A couple of things need to be cleaned up.
Yesterday, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that no one from the Manhattan D.A.’s office has spoken to the Trump camp. The presumption was that the Manhattan D.A. gave Trump the courtesy of having him simply walk into the building for booking with no perp walk. She speculates that Trump has misread news reports which would be typical. The man who wants to lead the United States and, in theory, needs to read serious and complex intelligence reports. But he can’t read the news.
Trump spox statement confirms Trump doesn't know when an arrest might happen if an indictment is handed up. But he took to social media to declare that he did and to call for his supporters to protest and "take back" the country. https://t.co/EcY0wrg4vl
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 18, 2023
A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Susan R. Necheles, said that his post had been based on news reports, and accused the Manhattan district attorney’s office of conducting a “political prosecution.”
I would no longer expect a Tuesday arrest. Indeed, I’d look more at Friday.
But there is a new theory being espoused by writer Tomi T Ahonen. Ahonen believes that the conspiracy charge that Michael Cohen received, the “Individual One” case that we all expect to be the “charge,” will only be one of many and perhaps not the most serious. Ahonen is looking at possible fraud and tax evasion charges that Bragg abandoned earlier and perhaps now picked up again.
Let's have a reality check…
First. There is no official confirmation of any arrest or indictment in New York. We should know by end of Monday if Tuesday is happening, and Trump saying Tuesday could mean he flies to NY on Tue, and surrenders on Wednesday. Let's take this easy pic.twitter.com/HMco3rAOrC
— Tomi T Ahonen Celebrates Arrestmas on Tuesday (@tomiahonen) March 19, 2023
Correct. We got that yesterday.
And this is intriguing. If Trump’s CFO’s daughter testified, that is one step removed from Stormy. She couldn’t possibly know anything about Stormy, but she would know about tax evasion stuff.
Am digging a bit into that side of it…
Jack had this Tweet on 13 March. Yes, Weisselberg's daughter has testified to Grand Jury. She had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels. This Manhattan case is significantly bigger than just Michael Cohen's payment… https://t.co/tI9JkHkunF pic.twitter.com/kuXVUkNlXg
— Tomi T Ahonen Celebrates Arrestmas on Tuesday (@tomiahonen) March 19, 2023
And if this is true, then we know it goes beyond Stormy’s payment (which was plenty to send Cohen to prison for three years) to tax fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud, any of those would be up for grabs.
Last, a weird one:
Then there is David Pecker (former boss of National Enquirer, who was Trump's image preserver, killing stories that would be harmful to Trump). Pecker has also testified to Grand Jury https://t.co/5xQTWRsIUd pic.twitter.com/96qv87gOxB
— Tomi T Ahonen Celebrates Arrestmas on Tuesday (@tomiahonen) March 19, 2023
Yes, Pecker could have shut down any case about Stormy but he could have information on other matters. Interesting.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK: TRUMP’S PROMISES TO IMMEDIATELY INSTILL FASCISM ARE BRUTALLY HONEST.
Why is Ivanka wearing a shower curtain in that picture?
Great minds think alike!
It’s probably a $5000 shower curtain too.
Habberman’s sources are saying the Tuesday arrest date is coming out of the Trump camp. In fact, another witness is scheduled to testify next week. My guess: Weisselberg, who knows where all the bodies are buried and whose plea bargain gives him absolutely no room to negotiate. Weisselberg’s earlier testimony in his trial may have opened a whole can of worms for trump, and Bragg may have taken the opportunity to connect the dots. If so, Stormy will be the least of trump’s worries.
All the speculation about “delicate negotiations” and the date and manner of trump’s arrest is bunk. The Manhattan DA will take him into custody at a time and place of his choosing, and I would bet the bad hair-job won’t see it coming.
One obvious thing: Michael Cohen has done extremely well and could end up being a big winner. A big TY to him for doing the right thing.
I believe it’s been announced that tomorrow is the last witness and it’s Cohen’s attorney. They might have Weisellberg’s testimony or stuff in writing already to the GJ
Charging Trump with crimes is sort of like painting a picture, you have to know when to stop.
My guess is that Trump is trying to get out ahead of the indictment with his own “truth” so that he can set the narrative and fundraise like hell. In a way, I hope the law waits (productively, hopefully!) until….oh, mid next week or so. How long can his “army” wait on tenterhooks for something to come down?
I would say that whatever is going down we all might just be surprised. Michael Cohen has given at least 22 days of testimony to attorneys for Manhattan AG. At least two days at the Stormy thing. I personally think that Bragg might be going to spring some other charges besides the Stormy thing. It wouldn’t take 22 days to go over the hush money charges. Matter of fact it wouldn’t take two days to go over the evidence. Trump wrote Cohen a check for 130,000 and told Cohen to pay Stormy. Now I know it didn’t exactly happen that way but you get the general idea. Something is on the horizon for the old windbag Trump.
We can only hope.