America faces a very Important Moment ahead of Trump’s trial
The Last Ex-President of the United States To Fail: Donald Trump’s Manhattan Saga Towards a Judicial Scale
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In 1971, an Ivy League graduate in his mid-20s rented a studio apartment on Third Avenue and 75th Street in New York City. The window looked out on an adjoining building’s water tank.
“I … tried to divide it up so that it would seem bigger. But no matter what I did, it was still a dark, dingy little apartment. Donald Trump wrote a book with Tony Schwartz about the art of the deal. “You have to understand; I was a kid from Queens who worked in Brooklyn, and suddenly I had an apartment on the Upper East Side. … I became a city guy instead of a kid from the boroughs.”
Ultimately, he’d become the first New Yorker since Franklin D. Roosevelt to make it to the White House. But Trump’s Manhattan saga could be coming to a close on Tuesday only a few miles from where it began, when he is scheduled to appear in a downtown courtroom to face criminal charges.
As with almost everything about the former president, there’s no real precedent for the latest chapter of his story — and no way to tell how it will end.
Donald Trump, the first ex-president to face criminal charges, will be going to New York this week for an expected court appearance on Tuesday.
It should be evident that no one is above the law and that Trump should be held accountable for what he has done. The journey to accountability will be long, but these charges are the first step.
Trump can continue running for the Republican nomination for president in 2024 and if he can delay the prosecution and is elected, Rodgers pointed out, “expect him to argue that the case against him must be dismissed as unconstitutional based on the Justice Department’s 2000 guidance that a president cannot be indicted ‘or tried’ While in office.
In the run-up to Tuesday’s appearance, Trump’s legal team gave a preview of a robust defense that will unfold against a backdrop of a furious political campaign. His backers are attempting to use the new GOP House majority to try to interfere with Bragg’s prosecution. In an interview with CNN, Trump lawyer Joe tacopina said that the ex-president’s team would loudly declare he is not guilty and that it would attempt to stop the case from going to trial.
“This ultimately will be decided not in the court of public opinion, but it will be decided by those 12 people,” Gerhardt told Weekend Edition. Mr. Trump’s lawyers will be with him all the way, and they will have to make sure the jury is not biased.
Zelizer wrote that there is a possibility that Trump will not only survive, but also thrive. Trump has an instinct for taking advantage of situations that can help him and his career is built on punching back against the people and institutions he claims are unfairly attacking him. He has already fallen back on the well-worn strategy of presenting himself as the victim of a corrupt establishment and rallying his supporters behind him.”
Henry Olsen wrote that anyone who cares about fairness in the criminal justice system should not be happy that Donald Trump will be prosecuted in one of the most liberal jurisdictions. By all accounts, this should be a federal case.”
Public opinion is going to be relevant in shaping the political impact of the New York case. The acting New York Supreme Court Judge who will preside over Trump’s trial is immune to political pressure. In fact, Trump’s attacks on prosecutors or the judge could backfire in a legal arena. A court case and rules of criminal procedure need to be followed by a former president.
The Nashville Shootings That Killed: The Case against the Parents of a Child who Shot and Shooted a Student at the Covenant School
Sorrow, anger and frustration were among the emotions people felt after yet another school shooting last week — this time in Nashville, Tennessee, where three children and three adults were killed at The Covenant School on Monday.
“James and Jennifer Crumbley, who have pleaded not guilty, allegedly neglected cries for help from their son for months and dismissed serious concerns from the school the day before and the morning of the shooting. Even though they ignored warnings, the Crumbleys bought their son a gun and took him to target practice. The son of the couple pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder charges in October.
The question of how to prevent shootings is raised. And they argued that on this front, there is a positive development — a move to hold parents accountable in certain cases:
An appellate court ruled last week that the charges against the parents of the teen who shot and killed students at Oxford High School in Michigan should go to trial.
The White House held a democracy summit last week, which was co-hosted by Costa Rica, the Netherlands and South Korea.
“This makes the premise of the democracy summit ring somewhat hollow because while the Biden administration does an excellent job of trumpeting its commitments to democracy and women’s rights, only a year and a half ago, it cavalierly abandoned 40 million Afghans to the Taliban’s misogynistic theocracy.”
House Republicans are investigating the tumultuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan and there’s a congressionally mandated bipartisan commission examining the entire 20-year war in Afghanistan. The fact that the Trump administration signed the agreement with the Taliban in 2020 caused a double-edged sword for Republicans.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/02/opinions/trumps-manhattan-story-opinion-column-galant/index.html
Love Better: Fixing What is wrong with Social Media in Israel after the 2016 Israeli Referendum on Proliferation and Protestes
“It might seem an arcane issue to trigger a massive popular uprising, but Israelis promptly concluded their democracy was at stake, and what followed was one of the most far-reaching, disciplined and determined waves of protests inside a democratic country in recent memory.”
Netanyahu agreed to delay the changes, which were being rammed through the Knesset, until the next legislative term. The crisis isn’t over.
Breaks suck. So goes the introductory video for a campaign that New Zealand is conducting to help people cope with relationships that have ended. “Our behavior doesn’t have to” follow suit, wrote Holly Thomas.
The Love Better campaign is meant to help young people heal from break ups and build resilience. The Youthline helpline is dedicated to supporting people ages 12 to 24.
“It’s part of a broader strategy to help eliminate family and sexual violence, and it follows a survey of 1,200 16-24-year-olds, 68% of whom reported experiences encompassing self-harm, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviors and violence and coercion following rejection. Given the breadth of the potential damage, it’s wild that campaigns like these aren’t ubiquitous in other countries as well … At the very least, it would improve our collective mental health. At most, it might save lives.”
Can Utah fix what is wrong with social media? Kara Alaimo thinks so. Under two new state laws, “social media companies have to verify the ages of all users in the state, and children under age 18 have to get permission from their parents to have accounts.”
“Parents will also be able to access their kids’ accounts, apps won’t be allowed to show children ads, and accounts for kids won’t be able to be used between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. without parental permission.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/02/opinions/trumps-manhattan-story-opinion-column-galant/index.html
Putin, the King of Comics, and the History of the Marvel Universe: A Conversation with Kirby and Lee in the Early 1960’s
“How Putin’s words have been spun in the West may be a surprise to Moscow — but there’s no doubt it will be a highly gratifying one. Because Russia has already ‘used’ nuclear weapons. It used them to be highly successful, without firing them, by trading on empty threats about potential nuclear strikes in order to deter the West from supportingUkraine in its fight against Russia.
The debut of a new superhero comic book, with him punching the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, was published a year before the US entered World War II.
Schwartz wrote that Kirby’s son said “he was fearful and furious at the rise of Nazism in Europe and the US, especially after (British prime minister Neville) The appeasement of Chamberlain and Kristallnacht. He and Simon created their hero in direct response, and Kirby plainly stated, ‘Captain America was myself.’ He said his anger was coming to the surface when he drew him punching Hitler.
Kirby wrote and drew various genres of comics after superheroes fell out of favor. When Stan Lee, by then the editor and head writer at what would soon be named Marvel, asked him to try superheroes again in 1961, the two created together the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Iron Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther and countless others. Kirby was named the king of comics due to his artistic innovation. It also made him one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.”
New York is high security for an ex-president Donald Trump in the light of the Manhattan Criminal Court indictment and his alleged campaign finance violations
History will unfold live before millions of television news viewers on Tuesday as former President Donald Trump travels to Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned after last week’s unprecedented indictment.
The 44th president is expected to turn himself in on Tuesday in Manhattan where he built his renown as a popular culture figure and real estate magnate but which can now be used to engineer his downfall.
He will go to his Mar-a-Lago resort and speak to the media after Tuesday’s court date, trying to distract from the fact that he will be a criminal.
Yet a criminal indictment takes Trump into unique political territory. And however the case turns out, his return to the spotlight in these circumstances is another twist in an exhausting saga featuring a double impeachment, false claims of a stolen election, and a mob attack on the US Congress during an unruly four-year presidency that pushed the nation to the point of exhaustion and deepened its polarization.
Some legal experts, without knowing the still-sealed indictment, have questioned whether it is enough to indict an already running ex-president for possible campaign finance violations.
While Trump’s critics have celebrated the indictment as a sign that no one is above the law, Tacopina argued that the ex-president was actually getting worse treatment than an ordinary citizen would because of his fame and political aspirations.
“Had he not been running for office right now, for the office of the presidency – which, by the way, the polls have shown since this has been announced, his numbers have gone up significantly – had he not been running for presidency, he would not have been indicted,” Tacopina said. Bragg has made no public comment on the case since the indictment came down last Thursday.
Tacopina also telegraphed an effort to target the credibility of Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who made a $130,000 payment to Daniels and went to prison on charges including lying to Congress, but who may be a central witness in any trial of Trump.
New York has high levels of security because the case is political and because Trump warned of the possibility of death and destruction in the event he is charged. Although Trump has called for protests, his supporters haven’t taken to the streets.
The indictment has already had a negative impact on the GOP presidential race, with potential challengers like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joining the ex-presidents allies in Congress to blast the Bragg investigation as motivated by partisanship. Even though Trump is popular with Republicans, it would be premature to conclude that his legal problems will help them in the long run.
DeSantis, who has yet to declare a run, is running a shadow campaign rooted in the premise that he could offer Trump-style policies without the chaos or distractions of the ex-president. Many Republicans fear that the indicted GOP nominee could be a liability in the general election if voters decide to re-elect them. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who has called on Trump to step aside because of the indictment, is running for president.
Trump’s statement shows that he will use his political power to stir up anger and disrupt the political process in the same way he has done in the past, with fury, and will respond to this issue with the same way he has dealt with previous threats.
He believes the witch- hunt will backfire on Joe Biden. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. We can make America great again by defeating the corrupt Democrats, and then we will throw out the last of the corrupt Democrats in order to make the country great again.
With his approach, this Tuesday will be just the beginning of a new, dramatic and divisive chapter in Trump’s political career and another extreme test for America.
The expected voluntary surrender of a former president and 2024 White House candidate will be a unique affair in more ways than one – both for the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the New York courthouse where he’ll be arraigned and for a nation watching to see how it’ll shake up the GOP presidential primary.
Despite the initial shock of the indictment, Trump has remained surprisingly calm and focused in the days ahead of his court appearance, CNN’s Kristen Holmes reported.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating Trump in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election. A speech that Trump is making at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night will allow him to say that he is being unfairly treated by the district attorney.
But even before Trump’s appearance, his presence will be felt in the Manhattan courthouse Tuesday, as all trials and most other court activity is being halted before he is slated to arrive.
Douglas Brinkley, who is a presidential historian, told NPR’s Morning Edition that it is not the first time that a president will be having a mugshot. Brinkley said “we’re in for a very rocky spring” with Trump facing other criminal cases.
Typically, after defendants are arrested, they are booked and held in cells near the courtroom before they are arraigned. That is not going to happen with Trump. Once the former president is processed by the courts he will be taken to the floor through the back hallways and elevators. He’ll then come out to a public hallway to walk into the courtroom.
The lawyers for Trump attempted to wrest some control over the court proceedings on Monday and argued against a request by CNN to allow cameras into the courtroom on Tuesday. The media outlets thought the case was in the public interest and should be broadcast. But Trump’s lawyers told the judge that “it will create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment, raise unique security concerns, and is inconsistent with President Trump’s presumption of innocence.”
CNN and other media outlets have requested that a New York judge unseal the indictment and allow them to broadcast Trump in court on Tuesday.
In order to ensure that the operations of the Court won’t be disrupted, the news organizations are asking for a limited amount of photographers, videographers, and radio journalists to be present.
Merchan, an acting New York Supreme Court justice, has sentenced Trump’s close confidant Allen Weisselberg to prison, presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial and overseen former adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal fraud case.
According to attorneys who have appeared before the man, he does not tolerate disruptions or delays and he is known to maintain control of his courtroom even when his cases draw a lot of attention.
Trump attorney Timothy Parlatore said in an interview Friday that he was not easy on himself when he tried the case, but that he will likely be fair.
I have tried a case in front of him before. He could be tough. I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be something that’s going to change his ability to evaluate the facts and the law in this case,” Parlatore said.
Tacopina told CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday that the former president will plead not guilty. He said his team would look at potential issue that they would be able to challenge.
The court strategy for the Trump team may center on whether or not prosecutors can tie the business records of Daniels to the payments of hush money to her seven years ago. Tacopina suggested in TV interviews Sunday the statute of limitations may have passed, and said the Trump businesses didn’t make false entries.
The case is not currently being looked at by Trump’s legal team to be moved to a different part of the city. “There’s been no discussion of that whatsoever,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in another interview Sunday. “It’s way too premature to start worrying about venue changes until we really see the indictment and grapple with the legal issues.”
Sources close to Trump say that Trump’s advisers were discussing how to best campaign off the indictment they have portrayed as political hoax and witch hunt.
The former president has been presented with polls that show him leading the Florida governor in a head-to-head match up. The team says it has raised over $5 million since he was indicted.
“The office is more important than any individual person. So for the sake of the office of the presidency, I do think that’s too much of a sideshow and distraction,” Hutchinson said in an interview on ABC News. “He needs to be able to concentrate on his due process.”
Trump Travels Newly: What’s Next for a Criminal Defendant? A Comment on “America was not supposed to come this way”
The testimony from Daniels and Michael Cohen was given to a grand jury, which heard evidence of the former president’s role in the scheme. More than half of the jurors believed there was probable cause to believe that Trump committed a crime.
Trump has denied any criminal wrongdoing and is expected to plead not guilty. He wrote on Truth Social that he would either go to the Courthouse or not. “America was not supposed to be this way!”
An arraignment is a criminal defendant’s first court appearance. It takes several hours behind closed doors for a normal defendant to appear for photos, fingerprints and arrest paperwork.
A judge hears the charges against defendants. Criminal Defendants can enter a not guilty plea at this time in the criminal process.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167756756/trump-traveling-new-york-arraignment-whats-next-trial
What next-trial would be for Trump if he’s travelling to Manhattan, or if the prosecutor wants to delay that process
Even so, his status as a former president is expected to pose some unusual logistical challenges. He has a large group of people with him. There will be protests. There will be media attention. It will happen with the daily operations of the state court office.
“There’s a lot of external factors that just don’t happen for 99.99% of the cases we have,” said former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance in an NPR interview on Sunday. It will be a challenge for all of us to make sure that things function safely and smoothly.
He’s still entitled to a fair due process even though he has been arrested, says Kim Wehler, a law professor at University of Baltimore.
When asked about the potential charges against him and penalties they would carry, she says that’s “way, way down the line,” telling All Things Considered there are plenty of hurdles to get through first.
“There are a lot of procedural, evidentiary and constitutional protections in place to make sure that that far-off question is fairly adjudicated,” Wehle adds.
Key to a trial will be the strength of the evidence presented by prosecutors, legal experts said. Michael Gerhardt is a law professor at the University of North Carolina.
He told NPR that he would probably choose the prosecution’s side, since the jury pool in Manhattan is so against Donald Trump.
Most similar cases would probably take a year to get to trial, Galluzzo says. He expects that Trump’s strategy will be to delay that process as much as possible.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167756756/trump-traveling-new-york-arraignment-whats-next-trial
Coverage in the Wild: Trump’s Troubles with the Media and the Challenges of the Post-Mean-Field Era
He says that they won’t make him an offer that he would accept. “And I think more than anything he probably wants that public stage to play the victim, to have an audience.”
The extraordinary moment will present newsrooms with a lot of coverage troubles and test how well outlets have adapted to reporting on Trump since he left office in disgrace and disappeared from the public view.
A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for the digest to keep up with the changing media landscape.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/media/trump-coverage-reliable-sources/index.html
The Case of the Ex-President Donald J.J. Smith: He Needs to be Covered as a Truth Sandwich and Don’t Let Him Be Your Editor
► Molly Jong-Fast: “He needs to be covered as a truth sandwich. You should tell the truth first before repeating his lies. You can’t repeat the lies. If you have to repeat the lie again, be sure to say it is a lie. Don’t use his campaign’s framing! Don’t let him be your assignment editor. Trump is a candidate and also likely a defendant, treat him like every other candidate and defendant. He should not be given the benefit of the doubt.
► Jack Shafer: “Editors and producers should stop looking over their shoulders worrying about what the ox peckers might say about their camera angles, the number of hours they spend on the booking, the number of column inches they burn on the prosecution and trust their own journalistic instincts and training. It’s a story, follow it. Inform your readers and viewers.”
And there are increasing signs that this new reality – which will come with hefty financial commitments in legal fees and locks on Trump’s calendar – could be multiplied at a time when he’s already facing the intense demands of another White House bid.
Smith’s prosecutors have secured daily notes, texts, emails and photographs and are focused on cataloguing how Trump handled classified records around Mar-a-Lago and those who may have witnessed the former president with them, CNN’s Katelyn Polantz and Evan Perez reported Monday. The Justice Department is taking steps consistent with the conclusion of an investigation.
Ty Cobb, who was Trump’s former lawyer, told CNN that the developments represent a serious turn for the ex-president. We had known that the investigatory steps were under way, but we had not yet heard of the alleged results. I think they are very consequential.
There is only one criminal prosecution. Trump is not currently charged in any of the other cases, but a multi-front defense in multiple cases would be an extraordinary storm. And it would further disrupt the ex-president’s capacity to dictate his political schedule and control his destiny. Trump exploited his popularity with Republican voters while under scrutiny to undermine the accusations against him. He pressured most GOP senators, who knew they would pay with their careers if they voted to convict him in an impeachment trial.
The situation is somewhat similar to the 2020 election, when the will of voters prevailed because Trump’s attempts to have votes thrown out and results changed foundered in multiple courts because of the fact-based standards of evidence and the law.
Photogenic Trump: How to Make a Photo of Trump’s Room before the Hearing begins in a New Law of Public Photon Production
The request was turned down by Merchan in a late night ruling. The 5 still photographers are allowed to take pictures of Trump and his courtroom before the hearing begins.
