Flotsam and Jetsam - Cohen Stole from Trump, Merchan Goes Mad

Well, yesterday certainly was an interesting day at Alvin Bragg's trial of Donald Trump for 34 egregious felonies of labeling payments to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen as "legal expenses", although it's not clear yet what made that illegal, or indeed, turned them into felonies. In cross examination by Trump attorney's Cohen admitted to embezzling $60,000 from the Trump organization, arguing that it was a payment for a bonus not given. Later, when former prosecutor and Cohen's former defense lawyer Robert Costello took the stand in Trump's defense, Judge Merchan flew into a rage when Costello rolled his eyes at some of the judge's plain anti-Trump bias. Stacy McCain, ‘Get Trump’ Show Trial Continues "Do not be distracted by this chatter from the media about the “question” of whether Michael Cohen’s credibility has been damaged. It doesn’t matter. This jury will vote to convict, no matter what." Hat Hair cites Rueters, who buried the lede, BREAKING: Cohen Admits Stealing From Trump's Company  "Donald Trump's lawyers asked the judge overseeing his criminal hush money trial on Monday to dismiss the case before it reaches the jury, arguing the testimony of star witness Michael Cohen was not credible given his criminal record and history of lying." Capt. Ed, What. A. Disaster. Isn't this something that should have convinced prosecutors to drop the case, or at least address it in direct examination to take the sting out of it? Instead, prosecutors have built a case around a serial perjurer and now admitted embezzler about the veracity of Trump's business records. Any other court would have called a halt to this clown show by now and dismissed the charges with prejudice. One has to wonder whether the state bar may want to investigate this soon to see if the prosecutors suborned perjury last week, too." Capt. Ed. again at VIP, Cohen's a Perjurer *And* an Embezzler? Plus: The Amiable Skeptics Featuring Adam Baldwin! Matt Margolis at PJM, Michael Cohen’s Bombshell Admission Puts Alvin Bragg’s Case Against Trump in Disarray. Benny Johnson@bennyjohnson, "KASH PATEL: “Michael Cohen admitted on the witness stand to 6 different felonies.” Hat Hair's Dave Strom, Laurence O'Donnell: Cohen Didn't Steal the Money; He Was Just Giving Himself a Bonus. Ace, MSNBC: Michael Cohen's Heist of $60,000 from Trump Was Him "Just Trying to Rebalance the Bonus He Thought He Deserved" "Oh. MSNBC and the left have now justified: * Beating people on the street for disagreeing with you * Setting businesses on fire because you're on the race-rag * Menacing Jewish students if you're angry that Jews are good at warfare and Arabs are only good at terrorist bombings, rapes, and kidnappings * Stealing a hoard of cash if you think you "deserve" it. It's a criminal advocacy channel. Before getting to MSNBC's latest defense of venality and criminality in the name of The Great Un-patriotic Cause... The persecution has now rested, proving not a single one of its allegations, and leaving everyone still perplexed about what crime Trump is supposed to have committed." Bob Hoge at RedState sees DERSHOWITZ ON FIRE: Legal Scholar Attends Trump Trial, Demolishes Judge Merchan's Prejudicial Conduct 

Alan Dershowitz reacts after visiting Trump trial and he can’t believe it- the judge went berserk pic.twitter.com/eOpmjrMZGh

— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) May 21, 2024

Ace,  Turley: Judge "Hand-Picked" to Oversee Trump Persecution Illegally Donated to Biden and the Democrats. Whoops! Whoopsie!

"It is very clear, they say you can't make political contributions and he did," Turley said on "Fox and Friends" after co-host Ainsley Earhardt mentioned the donations. "And the fact it is 'de minimus' or small, really, I think, misses the point. You make donations to show your support, that is what that $15 did."

"What's also concerning for many is that Merchan was not randomly selected, he was hand-picked as the judge for this case, and many of us don't understand it," Turley continued. "You have a judge who is donor to the president, whose daughter is a major Democratic operative, you would think this would be an easy call, there are plenty of other judges."

Althouse, "Emil Bove, a defense lawyer, is suggesting that the prosecutors, in their proposed jury instructions, has shifted their theory of the case." ""It sounds like he’s talking about the state election law that underlies the felony business records charges against Trump. Justice Merchan doesn’t seem to agree, but in any case, he says, the prosecution’s proposal for jury instructions holds no weight at the moment. It is only a proposal. 'Just relax,' Merchan tells the defense lawyer, as he continues to argue." Shouldn't you know what the alleged crime is before the trial starts? At NewMax, Judge in Trump Docs Case 'Disappointed' in Jack Smith. "In a five-page order released Sunday, Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, wrote she was disappointed that Smith asked her to keep information from the public to protect grand jury secrecy and witness safety. She contended that Smith ignored similar concerns at other times during the case." Capt. Ed comments "This is more of a tempest in a legal teapot. It's not all that substantive to the case, but it does expose Smith's political maneuvers in a manner he'd probably prefer not seeing. It's also never good to "disappoint" the federal judge trying your case." Hat Hair cites Hollywood in Toto, All This Anti-Trump Lawfare Looks Like a Conspiracy, Says ... Oliver Stone? He  knows a conspiracy theory when he sees it.

The Wombat has FMJRA 2.0: There Must Be Some Kind Of Way Out Of Here up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.