Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

'Serious criminal conduct': Alvin Bragg says Trump charged over three hush-money schemes



New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg addressed the press after Donald Trump appeared in a Manhattan court for his arrangement.

The full indictment has been posted online, showing all 34 felony charges that include allegations about tax crimes as well as the falsification of business records.

The podium was set between two large charts titled "The People vs. Donald J. Trump."

The one on the left shows the $130,000 hush money payment with an arrow down to "34 counts of falsifying business records, checks, invoices and general ledger entries." Below that appeared "attempt to commit or conceal another crime."

"That is exactly what this case is about 34 false statements made to cover up other crimes," said Bragg. "These are felony crimes in New York state, no matter who you are. We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. The defendant repeatedly made false statements on New York business records. He also caused others to make false statements.

"The defendant claimed he was paying Michael Cohen for legal services performed in 2015. This simply was not true. It was a false statement the defendant made month after month in 2017. April, May, June and so on through the rest of the year for nine straight months, the defendant held documents in his hand containing this key lie that he was paying Michael Cohen for legal services performed in 2017 he personally signed checks for."

He goes on to cite the "catch and kill" scheme from AMI through David Pecker for Karen McDougal as well as adult film star Stormy Daniels.

"Donald Trump and others made three payments to people who claimed to have negative information about Mr. Trump," Bragg continued. "To make these payments, they set up shell companies and they made yet more false statements, including, for example, AMI, American Media Incorporated. Business records show they paid money to keep quiet a woman named Stormy Daniels less than two weeks before the presidential election."

He said that the payment was to hide damaging information from the public. Each piece violates New York law, he explained.

It violated New York State election laws, he explained and while he cited the campaign finance cap. That federal cap appears to be what Trump's lawyers were complaining about outside the courthouse after the arrangement.

"He could not say that the payments were reimbursements for Mr. Cohen's payments to Stormy Daniels. To do so, to make that true statement, would have been to admit a crime," Bragg explained. "So, instead, Mr. Trump said he was paying Mr. Cohen for fictitious legal services in 2017 to cover up an actual crime committed the prior year. And in order to get Michael Cohen his money back, they planned one more false statement. They planned to mischaracterize the payments as income to the New York state tax authorities."

He went on to explain that these crimes aren't unusual for them to charge in New York, because there is so much white-collar crime from the financial and business capital of the world.

"The conduct I just described, and that which was charged by the grand jury, is felony criminal conduct in New York state," Bragg continued. "True and accurate business records are important everywhere, to be sure they are all the more important in Manhattan the financial center of the world. That is why we have a history in the man hearn D.A.'s office of vigorously enforcing white-collar crime, including the talented prosecutors you saw earlier today, has charged hundreds of felony charges this can be said to be the bread and butter of our work we have charged falsifying business records for those who violated federal bank secrecy laws we have charged falsifying business records for those seeking to cover up sex crimes and we have brought this charge for those who committed tax violations. At its core, this case today is one with allegations like so many of our white-collar cases, allegations that someone lie again and again to protect their interests and evade the laws to which we are all held accountable."

Watch Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's Full Press Conference Below:

[Rick Plant]

Trump charged with 34 felony counts in hush money scheme



https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0

[Rick Plant]

Donnie looks scared being led into the courtroom.

[Rick Plant]

Trump Arrested

[Rick Plant]

Judge warns ‘defendant’ Trump

[Rick Plant]

Donald Trump's Secret Service Agents Set to Testify Against Him



A number of Secret Service agents are set to testify as part of the federal investigation into Donald Trump's handling of classified documents, according to reports.

Fox News's Bret Baier said on Twitter that "multiple" Secret Service agents connected to the former president have been subpoenaed and are "expected to testify before the D.C. grand jury likely on Friday."

"The grand jury appearances are related to the Special Counsel Jack Smith probe into the handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago," Baier tweeted on Monday.

A Fox News report gave no further details about the apparent upcoming testimonies from the Secret Service, other than to say they are scheduled to take place on April 7. ABC News also reported that multiple Secret Service agents had been subpoenaed, citing a source familiar with the situation. Newsweek reached out to the Secret Service via email for comment.

Trump is being investigated over allegations he mishandled sensitive materials retrieved from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last August, then attempted to obstruct federal attempts to retrieve them.

Trump denies all wrongdoing in connection to the top-secret materials found at his home.

The reports of Secret Service subpoenas arrive after there have been other indications that Smith's investigation into Trump's handling of classified materials is ramping up.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported the Department of Justice and the FBI have heard further evidence indicating possible obstruction was committed by the former president during his alleged attempts to hold on to then-sensitive materials removed from the White House in January 2021.

In a statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung hit out at the "witch-hunts" against the former president that "have no basis in facts or law."

The Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that investigators have evidence that Trump looked through some of the boxes of government documents in an apparent attempt to hold onto certain materials after receiving a federal subpoena to have them all returned in May 2022.

Trump is accused of telling people to mislead government officials who were trying to recover the materials, as well as instructing his lawyers to release statements that said he had returned them all to the National Archives and Records Administration.

It was previously reported that Walt Nauta, a valet driver at Mar-a-Lago, was allegedly ordered by Trump to move boxes of documents into a storage room at Mar-a-Lago after the former president received the government subpoena to return the classified materials.

In June 2022, Trump's legal team is said to have "explicitly prohibited" federal agents from looking inside a storage room at Mar-a-Lago during their first attempt to recover the long-sought-after materials from Trump's Florida home

The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago two months later and seized more than 100 classified and top-secret documents, including some found in the storage room.

In late March, one of Trump's lawyers, Evan Corcoran, was also ordered to testify and hand over documents such as transcripts of personal audio recordings in the classified materials probe.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Corcoran can answer questions after it supported a previous ruling from D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who said there is evidence former president may have used Corcoran's services to carry out a crime.

Corcoran previously testified to the classified document grand jury but declined to answer some questions while citing attorney-client privilege. The usually absolute privilege can be voided under what is known as the crime-fraud exception, meaning it cannot be invoked if a lawyer and their client are allegedly attempting to cover up or engage in a crime.

Corcoran is believed to have testified before the federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., on March 24.

"You can't get better evidence than a defendant's attorney's file. Defendants have to be candid with their attorney so their attorney can do their job," attorney Andrew Lieb, of the Lieb at Law firm, told Newsweek.

"If there is smoking gun evidence that will convict Trump, Corcoran has it, and the fact that an appellate court panel applied the Crime Fraud Exception to Privilege in a matter of hours, after reviewing that smoking gun evidence, indicates that we are in for a doozy on this one."

Trump is already set to be the first U.S. president to be charged with a crime when he surrenders in New York on Tuesday as part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money probe. Trump also denies all wrongdoing in connection to that investigation.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-secret-service-agents-testify-against-him-1792195

[Rick Plant]

Wow!!

National security officials have already testified under oath that Trump repeatedly pushed them to seize voting machines in the 2020 election.