New York's Attorney General and SDNY's Alvin Bragg are truely American heroes.
Despite pressure from billionaires, corrupted political offices in Congress, threats by organized crime linked to Jeffrey Epstein, Russia, and/or others, they treated Trump and Trump Organization equally under the law, and held him accountable, and prosecuted Trump and Trump Organization for some of the many more crimes they committed against the State of New York, as part of a broader ongoing criminal conspiracy for many more crimes against the United States.
https://www.uprightsnews.com/the-big-pictures
They collectively and successfully worked tirelessly with their teams to bring justice to the people of New York and the American people, and successfully found Trump and Trump Organization of at least 34 felonies, including two conspiracies, including a conspiracy by “any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means”, and where unlawful means included "violating the Federal Elections Campaign Act, falsifying tax returns, and/or falsifying other business records", resulting in 34 felony convictions for,
11 falsified invoices,
12 falsified ledger entries, and
11 checks falsely recording the repayment as legal “retainers.” Nine of the checks were signed by Trump, himself.
Overlapping with the same, Trump Organization led by Donald Trump was found guilty of,
Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree,
Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree,
Criminal Tax Fraud in the Third Degree,
Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree, and
Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.
Accordingly, two different criminal conspiracy convictions involving falsified business records, two criminal conspiracies which arguably overlap -- as Donald Trump of Trump Organization, Michael Cohen of Trump Organization, Alan Weisselberg of Trump Organization, and/or others conspired to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by violating the Federal Elections Campaign Act, falsifying tax returns, and/or falsifying other business records, by paying AMI, National Inquirer, David Pecker, Michael Cohen, Essential Consulting LLC, Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, and/or others, as did Viktor Vesselberg, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, and/or others -- and which end up being different puzzle pieces of the much broader organized crime syndicate and ongoing organized crimes of Trump, Trump Organization, Michael Cohen, Felix Sater, GOP/RNC, Vladimir Putin, U.S. enemy Russia, Jeffrey Epstein's crime syndicate, NXIVM, Novartis-Roche, AT&T, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, and/or others.
https://www.uprightsnews.com/the-big-pictures
Today, Donald J. Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, making history, which should please Trump, him being the first President to be convicted of so many crimes, and so at least he wins or is good at something (getting caught and being convicted of so many crimes, and in his home state of New York, which he fled).
"Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, a historic verdict as Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, campaigns again for the White House.
This is the first time a former or sitting U.S. president has been convicted of criminal charges.
On Thursday, 12 New York jurors said they unanimously agreed that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to influence the 2016 contest.
The decision came after about a day and a half of deliberations ... New York Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11 — just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention. Trump faces a maximum sentence of up to 4 years in prison ... The jury heard from 22 witnesses during about four weeks of testimony in Manhattan’s criminal court. Jurors also weighed other evidence — mostly documents like phone records, invoices and checks to Michael Cohen, Trump’s once loyal “fixer,” who paid Daniels to keep her story of an alleged affair with the former president quiet.
The facts of the payments and invoices labeled as legal services were not in dispute. What prosecutors needed to prove was that Trump falsified the records in order to further another crime — in this case violating the New York election law that makes it a crime for “any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.”
The jurors were able to choose whether those unlawful means were violating the Federal Elections Campaign Act, falsifying tax returns, or falsifying other business records ... In August 2015, two months after Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid, David Pecker, then the publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower, according to testimony from Pecker and Cohen.
At that meeting, Pecker testified, it was agreed that he would be the “eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign. His job was to look out for negative stories from women he could “take off the marketplace,” by buying up the rights but never publishing them.
The plan, as Pecker outlined it, was that he would suppress these stories, and at the same time publish negative stories about Trump’s opponents. Some of these stories, Pecker said, were sent to Trump and Cohen for approval prior to publication.
Over the next year, Pecker said he carried out this role. His testimony was corroborated by Keith Davidson, an attorney who represented both Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. In about June 2016, McDougal considered going public with her story of a year-long affair with Trump. But Pecker bought the rights to that story, with the expectation that he would be reimbursed by Trump. That never happened.
In early October 2016, according to the testimony of former Trump communications aide Hope Hicks, the campaign was rocked by the release of the Access Hollywood tape, where Trump could be heard boasting “When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p****.”
The next day, according to Pecker, Cohen and Davidson, Daniels threatened to go public with accusations she'd had a sexual encounter withTrump in 2006 in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite during a celebrity golf tournament.
In her testimony, Daniels said there was a “power imbalance” when, after leaving the suite’s restroom, she found Trump on the hotel bed in his underwear. That’s when, Daniels said, they had sex.
She testified that Trump had dangled a possible role on his TV show Celebrity Apprentice. This detail — that the sex wasn’t entirely wanted — caused the defense to request a mistrial, which was denied. It also provided a motive for Trump to suppress the story. Prosecutors said, “Trump knew what happened in that hotel room” and didn’t want it to come out. The adult film actor’s testimony also included intimate details of her alleged sexual encounter, some of which Judge Merchan agreed with the defense were not necessary.
As October drew to a close, Cohen testified, he frantically opened bank accounts and tried to come up with a way to pay the $130,000 to keep Daniels quiet. But Trump, Cohen said, wanted to delay the payment until after the election, with the idea that after that it wouldn’t matter if Daniels was paid.
This point, that Trump was making the payment to influence the election by keeping women voters on board, was corroborated by a number of other witnesses. Hicks testified Trump, by then in the White House, told her that it was better the story came out in 2018, rather than 2016.
Cohen ultimately wired the money himself to Daniels, with the understanding, he said, that he would be repaid by Trump. Cohen testified to a number of conversations with Trump, backed up by phone records, including on the day he wired the payments. But the defense rattled Cohen on cross-examination when it presented evidence that one of the calls which Cohen had said was made through Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, was instead with Schiller about threats from a 14-year-old prankster.
Still, the heart of the case rested on the testimony of what happened after the election, when the records were falsified, in particular the handwritten notes and documents from the Trump Organization’s former comptroller, Jeff McConney.
McConney authenticated a key record: the bank statement showing Cohen’s wire transfer. That record included handwritten notes from Cohen and Trump’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, describing the $130,000 payment that would be “grossed up” to cover Cohen’s taxes. That sum, combined with another reimbursement and a bonus, for a total of $420,000, was paid out over 12 months at a rate of $35,000 per month.
The payments would be described as pursuant to a “legal retainer.” (Weisselberg, who is serving jail time for perjury in Trump’s civil fraud trial, did not testify.)
On the stand, Cohen described a repayment scheme that formed the basis of the 34 counts of falsified business records:
11 falsified invoices,
12 falsified ledger entries, and
11 checks falsely recording the repayment as legal “retainers.” Nine of the checks were signed by Trump, himself.
Cohen said he and Weisselberg met and discussed the agreement with Trump shortly before he left for Washington, on or about Jan. 17, 2020. Cohen said Trump approved the deal, saying at the end of the meeting that “it was going to be one heck of a ride” in Washington. Cohen said he and Trump discussed the arrangement again, in early February, in the Oval Office. Photos and White House records corroborated that the two met in the Oval Office at the time.
The defense presented just two witnesses, including Robert Costello, an attorney who wanted to represent Cohen after Cohen’s home and office were searched by the FBI in 2018. Costello had been put on the stand to refute Cohen’s claim that Costello was pressuring Cohen to stay on Trump’s “team.” But Costello’s emails showed that Trump was deciding which of Cohen’s lawyers he wanted to pay, and that Costello was concerned about not giving “the appearance that we are following instructions from [Rudy] Giuliani or the president,” referring to the former New York City mayor who was Trump’s lawyer at the time.
Trump has continually blasted any criminal charges he faces as “election interference” affecting his 2024 campaign.
The hush money case likely is the only one of Trump’s four ongoing criminal cases that will be heard ahead of the 2024 election in November, since federal trials in Washington, D.C., and Florida, and a state case in Georgia are in various stages of delays.
This decision in New York is likely to have rippling effects as Trump campaigns as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. For now, the other 54 criminal charges he faces have not turned off potential voters and, among some Republicans, the cases have bolstered support for him. However, a conviction may not play well with independent and swing voters.
The latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, from May, showed that 17% of voters said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he is convicted, while 15% said they would be more likely to vote for him. And 67% of registered voters nationally say it makes no difference to their vote if Trump is found guilty in his hush money trial.
Ian Sams, spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s Office, said in a statement: "We respect the rule of law, and have no additional comment.”"
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/30/nx-s1-4977352/trump-trial-verdict
"New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement regarding the guilty verdict handed down by the jury in the case against the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation — together doing business as the Trump Organization brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg:
“We can have no tolerance for individuals or organizations that violate our laws to line their pockets. I commend Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team for their successful prosecution of the Trump Organization, and I was proud to assist in this important case. This verdict sends a clear message that no one, and no organization, is above our laws.”
The Trump Organization was found guilty of:
Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree,
Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree,
Criminal Tax Fraud in the Third Degree,
Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree, and
Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG), under Attorney General James, worked closely with the Manhattan District Attorney’s (DA) Office to investigate and uncover a scheme employed by the Trump Organization to avoid paying taxes. In July 2021, the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation and the Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Allen Weisselberg were indicted for their roles in this tax scheme. Mr. Weisselberg pled guilty to the charges in August 2022.
This matter was handled for OAG by Gary T. Fishman, Director of Crime Proceeds Strike Force and Special Advisor to the Criminal Justice Division, and Assistant Attorney General Greg Morril of OAG’s Public Integrity Bureau, both cross-designated in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office."
Separately, Trump has been found to have committed (felony) insurrection by the State of Colorado, in the context that over 1000 others have been convicted of a broader spectrum of felonies as part of that third conspiracy.
"The Colorado Supreme Court made history Tuesday with an unprecedented, freeze-in-your-tracks ruling that former President Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run in 2024 because the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding public office covers his conduct on January 6, 2021 ...
The top Colorado court upheld the trial judge’s conclusions that the January 6 assault on the US Capitol was an insurrection and that Trump “engaged in” that insurrection.
These are key legal hurdles that the challengers needed to clear before Trump could be removed from any ballot, largely because the text of the 14th Amendment doesn’t actually define an “insurrection” or spell out what it means to “engage in” insurrection.
The justices also affirmed the decision that Trump’s January 6 speech at the Ellipse was not protected by the First Amendment. Trump has unsuccessfully pushed this argument in state and federal courts, which found that he incited violence when he told supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” and “fight like hell” to “take back our country.”
“President Trump incited and encouraged the use of violence and lawless action to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power,” the justices wrote in the 134-page majority opinion.
The justices broke from the trial judge on one key issue, reversing her controversial decision that the “insurrectionist ban” applies to every office except the presidency.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says oath-breaking insurrectionists can’t serve as senators, representatives, presidential electors, “or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State.” But it doesn’t mention the presidency.
This textual vagueness is why the trial judge kept Trump on the 2024 ballot. But the high court disagreed. And this was the linchpin of their decision to disqualify Trump.
“It seems most likely that the Presidency is not specifically included because it is so evidently an ‘office,’” the court said, adding that “a conclusion that the Presidency is something other than an office ‘under’ the United States is fundamentally at odds with the idea that all government officials, including the President, serve ‘we the people.’”
Corroborating the same, Baude and Paulsen, Constitutional scholars of the very conservative Federalist Society concluded the same 02/19/2024.
"Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids holding office by former office holders who then participate in insurrection or rebellion. Because of a range of misperceptions and mistaken assumptions, Section Three’s full legal consequences have not been appreciated or enforced. This Article corrects those mistakes by setting forth the full sweep and force of Section Three.
First, Section Three remains an enforceable part of the Constitution, not limited to the Civil War, and not effectively repealed by nineteenth century amnesty legislation. Second, Section Three is self-executing, operating as an immediate disqualification from office, without the need for additional action by Congress. It can and should be enforced by every official, state or federal, who judges qualifications. Third, to the extent of any conflict with prior constitutional rules, Section Three repeals, supersedes, or simply satisfies them. This includes the rules against bills of attainder or ex post facto laws, the Due Process Clause, and even the free speech principles of the First Amendment. Fourth, Section Three covers a broad range of conduct against the authority of the constitutional order, including many instances of indirect participation or support as “aid or comfort.” It covers a broad range of former offices, including the Presidency. And in particular, it disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election.""
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4532751
Separately, Congress also found that Trump engaged in insurrection.
"The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (commonly referred to as the January 6th Committee) was a select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives established to investigate the U.S. Capitol attack.[1]
After refusing to concede the 2020 U.S. presidential election and perpetuating false and disproven claims of widespread voter fraud, then-President Donald Trump summoned a mob of protestors to the Capitol as the electoral votes were being counted on January 6, 2021. During the House Committee's subsequent investigation, people gave sworn testimony that Trump knew he lost the election.[2] The Committee subpoenaed his testimony, identifying him as "the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power".[3] He sued the committee and never testified.[4][5]
On December 19, 2022, the Committee voted unanimously to refer Trump and the lawyer John Eastman to the U.S. Department of Justice for prosecution.[6] Recommended charges for Trump were obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and attempts to "incite", "assist" or "aid or comfort" an insurrection.[7] Obstruction and conspiracy to defraud were also the recommended charges for Eastman.[8]
Some members of Trump's inner circle had cooperated with the committee, while others defied it.[9] For refusing to testify:
- Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro were convicted of contempt of Congress. Each was sentenced to four months in prison,[10][11] and Navarro began his sentence in March 2024.[12]
- Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino were also held in criminal contempt by Congress (but not prosecuted by DOJ).[13][14]
- Representatives McCarthy, Jordan, Biggs, and Perry were referred to the House Ethics Committee.[15]
The Committee interviewed over a thousand people[16] and reviewed over a million documents.[3] On December 22, 2022, it published an 845-page final report[17][18][19] (including the executive summary released three days earlier).[20] That week, the committee also began publishing interview transcripts.[21]
The committee was formed through a largely party-line vote on July 1, 2021, and it dissolved in early January 2023.[a][22] Its membership was a point of significant political contention. The only two House Republicans to vote to establish the Committee[23] were also the only two Republicans to serve on it: Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.[b][24][25] The Republican National Committee censured them for their participation.[26]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_the_January_6_Attack
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf
Accordingly, all three branches of government, Congress, the Judiciary, and the Executive at both the federal and state level have either convicted Trump and/or his conspirators of crimes that disqualify him/them from public office, and/or indicted him for the same, and all of that is separate from the self-executing laws of the United States which immediately disqualified Trump from public offices, and where some of those laws include conviction of felonies and/or indictments for felonies -- the elephant in every voting center and every prosecutors office across the entire country.
Photo attributions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Bragg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letitia_James