Talk about a broken record. Donald Trump simply cannot change his tune. He’s been claiming for a few weeks now, although it feels like an eternity, that “the judge valued Mar-a-Lago at $18 million.” No, Judge Engoron emphatically did not. He quoted the County Assessor’s valuation of Mar-a-Lago as being between $18 to $27 million. Trump knows that perfectly well, but it sounds so much better when framed as a grievance. And now the judge has been accused of “defrauding” Trump.
Donald Trump claims that he was defrauded by the judge in his civil fraud case: “They defrauded us because he called me a fraud.” pic.twitter.com/WPXbtT8Xt6
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) October 4, 2023
This is pure Joseph Goebbels playbook: 1. Tell a big lie; 2. Repeat it a thousand times; 3. It becomes truth. And don’t forget the other Goebbel’s classic that is vintage Trump. “Accuse your enemy of doing that which you yourself are doing.”
This next one is classic. Trump’s “actual” value “which nobody knows” is very high. Apparently if you want to know what Trump’s net worth is, you can’t use normal accounting procedures, you have to consult the Oracle At Delphi. Or something.
— Nancy Condon (@NancysCrafts1) October 4, 2023
I love that quasi ballet gesture he does with the hand, how “high” his wealth is, so high in the sky, along with the pie, not to mention his pipe dreams.
Listen closely to this now. He’s saying something about Democrats in club houses? And how well he knows New York City. That’s going over really well now.
Trump: He’s a Democrat judge… He’s run by the Democrats pic.twitter.com/m0ijTsPqIT
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 4, 2023
And his lawyers just stand there like wax figures and let him incriminate himself. The tragedy of this case is that there are no cameras inside the courtroom and so Trump just makes up lies out of whole cloth, such as the one yesterday about the judge’s clerk being “Chuck Schumer’s girlfriend.” Associated Press:
As for Schumer, a spokesperson called the post “pathetic” and said the senator doesn’t know Greenfield and is in photos with thousands of constituents.
Aside from that sideshow, James’ attorney questioned an accountant Tuesday in an effort to build the state’s case that Trump and others at his company had full control over the preparation of misleading and false financial statements at the heart of their case.
The state’s lawsuit alleges that Trump and his business chronically lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks, insurers and others.
Also Tuesday, Engoron set the record straight about a comment that the ex-president had touted as an important victory.
The problem is that, as usual, Trump got the facts and the law bass ackwards. On Monday the judge was discussing Trump’s 2011 financial statement in the context of the 2014 time limit for claims in the case. Trump crowed that the statute of limitations barred a great deal of evidence from being admitted and that’s not the case.
But Engoron ruled last week that all the claims were allowable under the statute of limitations, and he made clear Tuesday that the trial isn’t “an opportunity to relitigate what I have already decided.” He said that at the trial’s early stage, he’s inclined to give both sides considerable leeway to connect older evidence to claims in the lawsuit.
Bingo. You may recall reading here yesterday how Trump was telling MAGA that the judge was going to “terminate” a prior ruling and also that the judge had now agreed that Mar-a-Lago was worth “fifty times” the $18 million figure with which Trump is obsessed. None of that happened and it won’t.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and again branded the case “a scam” on Tuesday.
He and lawyers have said his financial statements were legitimate representations of the worth of unique luxury properties, made even more valuable because of their association with him. The defense also emphasizes that the financial statements bore disclaimers saying that they weren’t audited and that others “might reach different conclusions” about his financial position if they had more information.
Accountant Donald Bender continued testifying Tuesday about his years preparing those statements from figures that Trump’s company supplied.
In some years, he said, the Trump Organization failed to provide all documents necessary for producing the statements, despite attesting in letters to the accounting firm that it had provided all financial records and hadn’t “knowingly withheld” relevant data.
They were not giving all of the documents that we needed,” Bender testified, explaining that “there were certain appraisals out there for a number of years that we had never seen.”
During cross-examination, Bender acknowledged he missed a change in information about the size of the former president’s penthouse at Trump Tower.
Defense lawyer Jesus M. Suarez seized on that, telling Bender that Trump was sitting through the trial and his company and employees were “going through hell” because “you missed it.”
Bender said he couldn’t be faulted.
“We didn’t screw it up. The Trump Organization made a mistake, and we didn’t catch it,” he said.
What a klown kar. The accountants can’t keep it all straight, the Truth Social auditor quit unexpectedly, Trump’s lawyer didn’t have enough sense to ask for a jury trial, which is malpractice, and the beat goes on. This is how it is in Trump world. You are judged by the company you keep and if you surround yourself with incompetence, that makes a statement about you.
Your “… The problem is that, as usual, Trump got the facts and the law bass ackwards…” … “… pure Joseph Goebbels playbook …” and “… you have to consult the Oracle At Delphi….” reveals what he does to tenuously secure his delusional wobbly orbit, simply to justify his evil, thieving, parasitic, gutless, systematically fraudulent existence. Next he’ll slither back to Mar-A-Lado and start, through his behaviourally maladaptive behaviour, projecting by use of more of his verbal vomit – simply to muddy the waters in his favour. What a puffed-up bloviate chunt. We all hope the high decision makers in the various institutions do make, and take, the right decisions, so as to rid America of this most corrupt malodorous carbuncle.
Accountant Donald Bender, there’s a nice case of nominative determinism.
You know what amazes me? For years, Trump wouldn’t release any information about his tax returns to the American public because the returns were (supposedly) being audited and he was (supposedly) prevented by law from divulging any information during the audit process.
EVERYONE (but his dumbest and blindest supporters) knew that was pure hogwash. The IRS, by law, can’t reveal information during an audit (with only limited exceptions as determined by a court). But the individual being audited can provide any and all information he WANTS to release.
But now, in a situation where a defendant is advised to refrain from making any public comments–especially in detail–Trump gets in front as many microphones and reporters as he can possibly find and let loose on whatever matter took place in the courtroom and even offer his “opinion” on the issues. The average defendant is going to simply declare his innocence or state “no comment” and be done with it (or let his lawyer/s do all the talking to the press).
Let me amend this:”A smart defendant. “