Donald Trump seeks to move NY criminal case to federal court
Source: AP
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump ’s lawyers have asked a federal court to take control of his New York City criminal case. They argued Thursday that the former president can’t be tried in the state court where his historic indictment was brought because the alleged conduct occurred while he was in office.
In court papers, Trump’s lawyers said the criminal case “involves important federal questions,” including alleged violations of federal election law. Federal officers, including former presidents, have the right to be tried in federal court for charges arising from “conduct performed while in office,” the lawyers argued.
Echoing Trump’s claims that his indictment is “politically motivated,” lawyer Susan Necheles urged the federal court to exert its “protective jurisdiction” and seize the case from the state courts where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg routinely practices.
Such requests are rarely granted in criminal cases, although Trump’s request is unprecedented because he’s the first former president ever charged with a crime. “This effort is extremely unlikely to succeed,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School. “It’s not even clear that this would be a particularly effective delay tactic.”
Justice Dept. Intensifying Efforts to Determine if Trump Hid Documents
Source: New York Times
Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified documents have obtained the confidential cooperation of a person who has worked for him at Mar-a-Lago, part of an intensifying effort to determine whether Mr. Trump ordered boxes containing sensitive material moved out of a storage room there as the government sought to recover it last year, multiple people familiar with the inquiry said.
Through a wave of new subpoenas and grand jury testimony, the Justice Department is moving aggressively to develop a fuller picture of how the documents Mr. Trump took with him from the White House were stored, who had access to them, how the security camera system at Mar-a-Lago works and what Mr. Trump told aides and his lawyers about what material he had and where it was, the people said. At the heart of the inquiry is whether Mr. Trump sought to hide some documents after the Justice Department issued a subpoena last May demanding their return.
The existence of an insider witness, whose identity has not been disclosed, could be a significant step in the investigation, which is being overseen by Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. The witness is said to have provided investigators with a picture of the storage room where the material had been held. Little else is known about what prosecutors might have learned from the witness or when the witness first began to provide information to the prosecutors.
But prosecutors appear to be trying to fill in some gaps in their knowledge about the movement of the boxes, created in part by their handling of another potentially key witness, Mr. Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta. Prosecutors believe Mr. Nauta has failed to provide them with a full and accurate account of his role in any movement of boxes containing the classified documents.
Trump banned from publicly discussing evidence in DA Bragg 'hush money' case
Source: NY Post
Former President Donald Trump has been banned from talking — or posting — about certain evidence uncovered in the Manhattan District Attorney’s “hush money” criminal case.
Justice Juan Merchan handed down the ruling Thursday during a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing after prosecutors sought a protective order to restrict Trump, 76, from publicly revealing any evidence handed over to his legal team as the case unfolds.
The judge — who insisted he was not imposing a “gag order” — said Trump was prohibited from talking about evidence specifically obtained by the DA’s Office and turned over to the defense to prepare for trial, including people’s names or personal information.
At least eight Trump electors have accepted immunity in Georgia investigation
Source: Washington Post
At least eight of the 16 Georgia Republicans who convened in December 2020 to declare Donald Trump the winner of the presidential contest despite his loss in the state have accepted immunity deals from Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating alleged election interference, according to a lawyer for the electors.
Prosecutors with the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) told the eight that they will not be charged with crimes if they testify truthfully in her sprawling investigation into efforts by Trump, his campaign and his allies to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia, according to a brief filed Friday in Fulton County Superior Court by defense attorney Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow.
Willis has said that the meeting of Trump’s electors on Dec. 14, 2020, despite Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s certification of Biden’s win, is a key target of her investigation, along with Trump’s phone calls to multiple state officials and his campaign’s potential involvement in an unauthorized breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County, Ga.
Georgia was among seven states where the Trump campaign and local GOP officials arranged for alternate electors to convene with the stated purpose of preserving legal recourse while election challenges made their way through the courts. Among the questions both Willis and federal investigators have explored is whether the appointment of alternate electors and the creation of elector certificates broke the law. Another question is whether Trump campaign officials and allies initiated the strategy as part of a larger effort to overturn Biden’s overall victory during the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
Capitol rioter with 'jaw-dropping' criminal history should serve 24 years in prison, DOJ says
Source: WUSA
WASHINGTON — Prosecutors will seek more than 24 years in prison for a Pennsylvania man and repeat felon convicted on four counts of assaulting police on Jan. 6.
Peter Schwartz was scheduled to be sentenced Friday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta. Schwartz was convicted by a jury in December on 13 counts, including four counts for attacking police with dangerous weapons and three other weapon-related felonies. In a sentencing memo filed last month, prosecutors described the career welder as one of the “most violent and aggressive participants” in the Capitol riot and asked for him to be sentenced to 294 months, or 24.5 years, in prison and a $71,541 fine.
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In addition to his actions on Jan. 6, Schwartz has what prosecutors described as a “jaw-dropping” criminal history of 38 prior convictions dating back to 1991. Those convictions were for offenses ranging from battery to assault with a deadly weapon to being a felony in possession of a handgun and terroristic threatening. In 2019, Schwartz was convicted in Kentucky for at least the second time of being a felon in possession of a firearm and for threatening to kill his girlfriend. A year later he was convicted of domestic battery in Ohio for assaulting his wife. On Jan. 6, Schwartz was still on probation from a conviction for assaultive conduct and illegal firearm possession.
Schwartz’s attorney, Dennis E. Boyle, argued in his own sentencing memo that his client should receive a much lighter term of four-and-a-half years in prison. Boyle acknowledged Schwartz’s conduct was serious, but said his actions on Jan. 6 were “not motivated by any desire for personal financial gain or any other benefit,” but instead by a “misunderstanding as to the facts surrounding the 2020 election.”
Boyle described Schwartz as a “pillar” in his family and noted his father Ronald had submitted a letter to the court describing how he “never fails to send cards in recognition of family events or holidays.”
Trump, in deposition, doubles down on 'Access Hollywood' remark about grabbing women
Former President Donald Trump, who said in the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape that "when you're a star, you can do anything" to women, doubled down on those remarks in the just-released deposition he gave in the E. Jean Carroll defamation and battery case.
Evidence from the trial, including Trump's October 2022 deposition, was released Friday, a day after both sides rested their case following a week of testimony.
Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleges that Trump defamed her in his Truth Social post by calling her allegations "a Hoax and a lie" and saying "This woman is not my type!" when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.
The former Elle magazine columnist added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.
weatheriscool wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 11:40 pm
Trump, in deposition, doubles down on 'Access Hollywood' remark about grabbing women
Former President Donald Trump, who said in the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape that "when you're a star, you can do anything" to women, doubled down on those remarks in the just-released deposition he gave in the E. Jean Carroll defamation and battery case.
Evidence from the trial, including Trump's October 2022 deposition, was released Friday, a day after both sides rested their case following a week of testimony.
Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleges that Trump defamed her in his Truth Social post by calling her allegations "a Hoax and a lie" and saying "This woman is not my type!" when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.
The former Elle magazine columnist added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.
WASHINGTON—Special counsel Jack Smith is racing through a roster of interviews in his wide-ranging investigations related to former President Donald Trump, including with former Vice President Mike Pence and other top aides, as he contemplates filing charges, according to people familiar with the matter.
The steps prosecutors are taking, the people say, suggest Mr. Smith is in the late stages of his inquiry into Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election. The special counsel is also considering whether the former president tried to obstruct a separate probe into the handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort by withholding material sought by the Justice Department.
The testimony by some witnesses, often a second or third session and sometimes brief, appears to point to efforts by Mr. Smith’s team to determine whether a crime was committed and decide whether to file charges in the coming months, people familiar with the questioning said.
A spokesman for Mr. Smith’s team declined to comment. In a social-media post on Friday, Mr. Trump said the special counsel was “harassing and threatening my people” and said he had done nothing wrong.
Trump will not testify in E. Jean Carroll battery trial
Source: CNN
By Kara Scannell, CNN
Former President Donald Trump will not testify in the civil battery and defamation trial after his attorney did not inform the court of a change in strategy by a judge-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. Sunday.
Lawyers representing David Shafer, the embattled chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, are arguing their client should not be charged with any crimes for his actions following the 2020 election because he was following advice provided by attorneys working for former President Donald Trump, according to a letter sent to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week.
Specifically, Shafer’s attorneys say their client was relying on “repeated and detailed advice of legal counsel” when he organized a group of “contingent” electors from Georgia and served as one himself, thus “eliminating any possibility of criminal intent or liability,” according to a copy of the May 5 letter.
Former President Donald Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis
At least 8 fake electors have been granted immunity in the Georgia Trump investigation
The letter, which was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, comes as Willis and her team of prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia are planning to make an announcement on possible charges against Trump or his allies later this summer.
Shafer, who sources previously told CNN could be among those indicted when Willis makes her charging announcements, has come under scrutiny for his role in the effort to put forward alternate slates of electors to block the certification of the 2020 presidential vote.
The jury will decide if Trump committed battery and if he later defamed her.
By Aaron Katersky May 9, 2023, 11:09 AM
The former Elle magazine columnist added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.
The jury is considering whether to hold Trump liable for battering Carroll and for defaming her and, if so, whether she deserves to be paid damages.
The verdict form requires the jury to answer ten questions, including which degree of battery, if any, for which to hold Trump liable. The jury could find Trump liable for raping Carroll, for sexually abusing her, or for forcibly touching her. Any of the three would be enough to find Trump committed battery against Carroll, and the jury could then consider what damages to impose, if any.
The judge reminded the jury that the standard of proof is less in a civil case than it is for a criminal case. Carroll must prove her claims by a preponderance of the evidence and not beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Each of you must decide for yourself the answers to the questions I put to you," Judge Lewis Kaplan said. "Your answers to each question are to be unanimous."................
IT is utterly amazing how this man is the front runner of a major party and has a good chance at winning reelection. This is another thing to think about when I say American taliban.
Jury says Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million for sexual abuse and defamation
Source: CNBC
A New York federal jury found former President Donald Trump liable on Tuesday for sexually abusing and forcibly touching the writer E. Jean Carroll at a department store in the 1990s, and for defaming her last fall when he denied her claim. The jury of six men and three women ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
The verdict in the civil trial came after less than three hours of deliberations in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan. The jury notably did not find Trump liable for rape, as Carroll had alleged.
“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social. A spokesman for his 2024 Republican presidential campaign said, “This case will be appealed, and we will ultimately win.” Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan said, “We are very happy,” as she left the courthouse with her client. Carroll did not speak to reporters.
The verdict is the latest legal blow against Trump, who leads early polls for the 2024 GOP nomination. In late March he was indicted by a Manhattan state Supreme Court grand jury on nearly three dozen counts of falsifying business records in connection with a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
