Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Trump kids only path to settling with AG Letitia James would require 'implicating' their father: legal expert

According to MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin, there is really only one path for Donald Trump's kids to get out from under charges from New York Attorney General Letitia James regarding real estate fraud, but that would require flipping on their father.

Earlier in the week, James presented a 200-page lawsuit seeking $250 million in penalties against Donald Trump, his three kids, Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka for egregiously inflating the value of properties owned by the Trump Organization.

According to Rubin, there is an outside chance Trump could broach a settlement with James -- and she might welcome it and call it a victory -- but it would be difficult for the Trump kids to seek their own deals without dragging their father down in the process.

Speaking with host Alex Witt, Rubin said it could happen but it would be difficult.

"How about this scenario, Lisa," Witt proposed. "Let's say Donald Trump wanted to fight it, could his kids take a different path? Could they settle on their own? "

"They certainly could," Rubin replied. " But some of the same patterns that we see with the children are all mixed up in misrepresentations by the former president."

"So for example, Alex, there are statements of financial conditions that are certified by the former president, and one of the children might attach that statement of financial condition to an application for a loan," she elaborated. "It's hard to see how certain of the adult children at least could accept responsibility and settle with Tish James without implicating their father."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Trump’s embrace of QAnon raising concerns about future political violence

Former President Trump appears to be embracing the unfounded theories of the extremely far-right QAnon community and it's raising concerns about future political violence. Mike Rothschild, author of "The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything," joined Amna Nawaz to discuss.

Watch:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trumps-embrace-of-qanon-raising-concerns-about-future-political-violence

[Rick Plant]

Cash-poor Trump may have to dump his skyscrapers at 'fire sale' prices if he loses NY fraud lawsuit: biographer



Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump biographer and senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion, Tim O'Brien, claimed that, should the former president go head-to-head with New York Attorney General Letitia O'Brien and lose the $250 million lawsuit she has filed against him, he will likely have to liquidate his properties --and at fire sale prices.

Speaking with MSNBC host Alex Witt, O'Brien suggested that Trump's worth is wrapped up in his real estate portfolio and he doesn't have access to enough cash to pay penalties and fines if he loses his court battle.

"You say that James' suit won't land the Trumps in prison, only criminal convictions could do that," host Witt prompted. "It seeks to bar the Trumps from running a business in New York state and might unravel the Trump organization. You just heard [former Trump lawyer] Michael Cohen say it could actually wipe Trump out. Is that the way you see it?"

"Well, I think it depends on the extent of damage that the case inflicts and her prosecution inflicts on the Trump family and their businesses," he replied. "Michael is completely right that he has never had a lot of cash on hand, he's almost a debt addict, he has always heavily mortgaged the properties he owns."

"Most of his wealth is tied up in a handful of skyscrapers in New York City," he continued. "Tish James is seeking to bar him from doing business in the state of New York, so he'll have to unload those if he gets convicted. And that is a fire sale, which means everyone who's a buyer will know they won't have to pay top dollar because he needs to get out of the property."

"She has made to two criminal referrals out of this case, one to the IRS and one to the US Attorneys' office in the Southern District [of New York]," he elaborated. "So that is now hanging over his head. I think the family's legacy is in New York, everything that Donald Trump stands on was built by Trump in New York. Trump has put those holdings in peril twice, the first time in the early 90's when he gorged on debt and couldn't repay the banks and again now when he has gotten on the wrong side of the law."

"I think this is an existential threat to his business and his financial well-being," he added.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Judges aren't buying any of Trump's 'MAGA make-believe' as his attorneys struggle: legal expert

According to former FBI official Peter Strzok, Donald Trump continues to put his attorneys in a bad place every time they face a judge and have to explain claims he keeps making to his rabid followers.

Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon, Strzok told host Yasmin Vossoughian that the judges are not buying Trump's "MAGA make-believe," stories and his legal team has no way of defending him without perjuring themselves.

'What defenses do you see of the former president's team floating here?" the host asked him.

"I don't think they have many," Strzok said as he smiled. "At the end of the day this is always been from Trump's side, sort of a publicity stunt, something to fund-raise off of, something he could take to his base and continue the narrative that somehow he has been wrongly investigated, and the deep state is going after him and that he can use this to engender more support for this nonsense tale that he is trying to get away from any accountability for any potential criminal acts he engaged in."

"At the end of the day, what's refreshing is that all this nonsense in this land of MAGA make-believe hits the judicial system of the United States it crumbles immediately," he added as he laughed. "That's what you have seen from Judge [Raymond] Dearie, the special master laying out an aggressive timeline saying 'We have heard you make the statements that you declassified them, we heard you make statements that evidence has been planted. Fine, by Friday, give details of exactly what you mean by that, and not only that but by next month, by mid-October, to have a complete review of a privilege log for anything you claim as executive privilege, client-attorney privilege.'"

"I don't see any argument that Trump can make, and more importantly, any argument that attorneys representing Trump are going to be willing to put their name on the line for something that isn't supported by the law, that isn't supported by fact, and that might get them into a lot of trouble ethically and with their bar memberships," he added.

He then predicted, "I don't expect to see much of anything of substance coming from Trump and his attorneys this week."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

Criminal Donald and his cohorts are delusional.

Who cares if his base gets "fired up" over indictments. There isn't enough MAGAs to win a national election. We saw that in 2020 when they got every MAGA voter they could and it still wasn't enough. Criminal Donald lost in a blowout with his "fired up" base.   


'Real paranoia' grips Trump camp as they wait for the next legal 'shoe to drop': MSNBC host



During a "Morning Joe" panel discussion on Donald Trump's chances of running for, and winning back the presidency in 2024, MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire suggested that the former president and his inner circle are living in a state of paranoia about what will be the next legal, blow to arrive.

Discussing a new poll from the New York Times that shows 54 percent of those asked believe the former president is a threat to democracy, most on the panel expressed belief he will still be the GOP's nominee in 2024 and that Trump's camp thinks indictments will fire up his base.

Nonetheless, Trump and his inner circle still have major concerns about investigations by the Department of Justice, the House select committee looking into the Jan. 6 insurrection, a Georgia grand jury hearing testimony on election tampering and now a lawsuit by New York's attorney general alleging financial fraud.

As "Way Too Early" host Lemire explained, there is a great deal of nervousness surrounding the ex-president.

"In terms of Trump world, two things -- a common phrase around here -- two things can be true at once," Lemire began. "On one hand, there's a growing certain that his inner circle has really shrunk in recent months. There's a handful of aides with him, whether at Bedminster or Mar-a-Lago. Even Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, some of his most trusted advisors, are now largely on the outer rim of Trump world at this moment."

"And there's real paranoia as to which shoe could drop in terms of investigations," he continued. "They're not sure which is worse. Is it going to be the Mar-a-Lago document case? Is it going to be what comes out of Georgia? Obviously now we have the lawsuits from the attorney general of New York state an, of course, the ongoing DOJ probe into January 6."

He later added, "The more that Trump is in legal peril, the more the chance that the Republican Party will rally around him -- that's what they think, anyway."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Trump's National Archives aide Kash Patel is writing QAnon slogans when signing books



Kash Patel is among those that Donald Trump appointed to be his representative to the National Archives. Patel revealed after the FBI search warrant was executed on Mar-a-Lago that he was going to post all of the documents that the FBI took to his own personal website.

According to the abbreviations and markings on the outside of the folders in the photo put in the court documents, Trump had nuclear information that previously fell under the Atomic Energy Act and had been moved to the Pentagon.

Patel was also nearly a nominee to serve as the deputy to the CIA. The actual CIA director, Gina Haspel, reportedly threatened to resign if it happened.

The new Patel children's book paints Donald Trump as "the King," and glorifies the fake story about 2020 voter fraud taking away "the King's" power unfairly.

The Trump aide posted on Truth Social that he was offering a special message for the first 10 buyers of his book at a recent signing. A fan who purchased it posted a photo showing that Patel's message was the QAnon slogan "Where We Go One We Go All," abbreviated awkwardly to WWGOWGA.

Trump has turned toward QAnon recently because they remain among those willing to support him at a time other Republicans are abandoning him for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Many QAnon conspiracies claim that Trump will retake power or will be somehow reappointed to the White House. The date for this action keeps moving further out after the deadline comes and goes without Trump being reappointed.

See the moment captured by a fan from Truth Social and "re-truthed" by Patel below:



Read More Here: https://www.axios.com/2021/01/16/kash-patel-cia-gina-haspel

[Rick Plant]

Trump Faces 'Criminal Liability' in NY Case That Will 'Wipe Him Out': Cohen



Donald Trump is facing "criminal liability" in New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit into alleged business fraud that could "wipe him out," his ex-personal attorney Michael Cohen said Saturday.

James, a Democrat up for reelection this year, announced Wednesday the civil lawsuit against Trump that seeks at least $250 million in repayment from allegedly fraudulent practices and to remove all of the Trumps from their positions within the Trump Organization. Three of Trump's children—Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump—and two senior executives at the Trump Organization were also mentioned in the lawsuit.

She alleged that the Trumps enriched themselves with "numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations" and that Trump "grossly" inflated his net worth by billions of dollars. She also accused him of cheating lenders and others with false and misleading financial statements.

While announcing the investigation, she credited Cohen, who served a prison sentence for campaign finance charges, with providing information to help bolster her case against the former president

Cohen, once a Trump ally, has now turned against him and has cooperated with investigators looking into Trump's business dealings. He said during a Saturday appearance on MSNBC that James' case leaves Trump facing "the worst situation that he's ever been in, which is criminal liability."

In addition to filing a civil lawsuit against Trump, James also referred alleged criminal violations to the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)—meaning that he could still face criminal charges in the case, though neither agency has announced any.

"Let's see if the Southern District of New York, that's no longer under his control, will pick up the mantle," Cohen said. "IRS—it's an open and shut case. Numbers don't lie. People do. And Donald is one of the biggest liars that you'll ever meet."

Cohen Says Trump Could Pay Up to $1 Billion

Cohen also said that James' lawsuit against Trump could "wipe him out" financially if a court demands he pay restitution—adding that the former president could be ordered to pay much more than the $250 million "baseline" alleged by James in the lawsuit.

"What Tish James writes it that the baseline is $250 million. She's not going below that. The amount is substantially greater," he said. "And again, as I've said on several shows, I believe the number to be somewhere between $750 [million] and $1 billion."

He continued: "That will wipe him out. He doesn't have cash."

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-faces-criminal-liability-ny-case-that-will-wipe-him-out-cohen-1746038