We live at a time in our cultural and technological history, as a species, (but particularly Americans) where television is the lowest common denominator. It’s our common thread for news and information and particularly if one is a “low information” or no information person. Television is the medium which brought Donald Trump to fame, and he then became the lowest common denominator in our politics.
These are all simple truths that you need to bear in mind when evaluating anything Trumpian, but most particularly Trump’s Last Stand, which is taking place in courts of law. Trump is doing with his trials what he’s done with everything in his life, which is to translate his shenanigans into a TV show. The most recent example of this was in the last hour of the court day when Christopher Kise, Trump’s white-shoe law firm lawyer improvised a tantrum in court — not his first, by any means. The other day when Michael Cohen was on the stand, Kise reduced the courtroom to open laughter (not his intention) when he sprang to his feet and declared, “Your Honor, the witness is out of control!” Today Kise attacked the judge’s clerk for passing him notes, which is her complete right to do. But Kise saw an opportunity to make a TV moment out of it and did so — and in doing so derailed the prosecution’s line of questioning, which was about Eric Trump taking the 5th 500 times.
The judge was not pleased and he may in fact include the attorneys in the gag order which he placed their client, Donald Trump, under.
If there is any further reference to anyone on my staff, I would consider expanding the gag order to include the attorneys,” Engoron threatened, as Politico’s Erica Orden noted.
Kise continued “to complain about the clerk, saying she is passing notes to the judge,” Orden added. “‘That’s right!’ he shouted. ‘Confidential communications for my record. Absolute right to it. You don’t have any right to see it.’”
“Do not refer to my staff again,” Engoron warned Kise, The Messenger’s Adam Klasfeld added.
So where do we go from here? Is Kise going to make himself a martyr? Or, maybe Alina Habba will? She’s constantly on Newmax, so she would love the opportunity to make herself the victim. She can maybe take a page from Jenna Ellis’ book and get a GoFundMe page set up, to pay for the psychiatric care that she’ll unquestionably need because the libs are so mean to her. Or, maybe the trip to Rome so that she can relax, after the rigors and ordeal of standing up for the Mango Messiah. It’s not easy being “Perry Mason in a skirt,” as Trump dubbed her.
One thing is certain: she paid Trump’s $15,000 sanctions bill without hesitation and she’ll pay her own as well, if need be. She may enjoy the theatrics and what they do for numbers on Newsmax, and pave the way for a future career there as a MAGA talking head, but she’s not stupid enough to jeopardize her law license.
Court starts up again tomorrow morning. I think we can safely bet that Mr. Amer will resume his line of questioning of Eric Trump. He said today, as Lisa Rubin quoted, “I’m going down that line because it’s incredible to me that Eric Trump does not remember a conference call about the statements of financial condition that took place after he understood that we were investigating and well after he was concerned enough about our investigation that he took the Fifth hundreds of times. That’s not credible.” No, it’s not. And unless Christopher Kise wants to create a real showstopper of a scene in court, say, urinating on the defense table, he’s not going to be able to distract tomorrow’s testimony.
To quote Trump, “Be there. Will be wild.”
I predict Trump will settle before being called to the stand.
If he says MAL is worth a billion or two, then he can get a second mortgage on it and pay the judgment. It’s the smarter move.
If he doesn’t, perjury and bankruptcy will certainly be in his future.
Um, exactly what bank or other financial institution do you imagine is going to give Trump that second mortgage, given all the fun financial/legal issues Trump’s currently facing?
And, I seriously doubt a *legitimate* institution is going to accept Trump’s valuation of the property. Usually an “estimate” of a property’s value will be taken for mortgage purposes if there’s no kind of official appraisal procedure but we already know such a process exists for MAL since Trump blew up when Judge Engoron relied on a Palm Beach County property appraisal (of between $18 and $27 million).
For what it’s worth, when Trump bought the property, he signed an agreement that would prevent his using the property as anything other than a “social club.” And the appraisal was based on the *income* that the property can generate as a *business* rather than the formula used for an appraisal based on a residential use. The most recent valuation was approximately $33 million–a new appraisal figure will come out after January 1st.
Also, that agreement that Trump signed may make getting a mortgage a bit more difficult. That agreement was a “deed of conservation and preservation easement” so there may be limits on a mortgage; it might be okay if the money’s going to be used to repair a staircase while maintaining its original appearance but less okay if the money’s going to pay a court fine (maybe I’m mistaken but banks do generally want to know why you want that mortgage and “fudging” your reasons is tantamount to committing perjury since the mortgage IS a legal document).
What if, rather than a staircase, it is to build a secure location for storing stolen ‘top secret’ documents?
Anything would be better than the bathroom, the stage and/or the basement.