President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I think CNN is getting obsessed with the clock. 22 witnesses, nearly 300 pieces of evidence, 20 days in the courtroom, 34 counts ... let's hope they're not going to rush it just so you can throw it to Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room.

 

FWIW, I just got a Democratic fundraising email from Sen. Fetterman (of course he didn't write it). So there are limits to just how loose a cannon he is.

 

This guy should be charged with treason and arrested if he ever steps foot out of Russia.

Russian disinformation sites linked to former Florida deputy sheriff, research finds

 

Split verdicts are common. Just given the number of charges, it wouldn't surprise me to see a split verdict here.

Each count relates to a discrete ledger entry, check issued or business invoice, so it would be easy enough for jurors to decide that there's sufficient evidence to convict on transactions a & b, but not c & d.

Honestly a split verdict wouldn't be bad. Appeals courts have found the decision to convict on some charges, but not others, to be persuasive when reviewing appeals that are based on allegations of jury bias or undue influence. Basically it shows the jury was careful and considerate in evaluating the evidence before it.

Sometimes split verdicts make no sense. I handled an appeal for the state some years ago where the jury convicted on possession of a firearm by felon charge but acquitted on an unlawful discharge of a firearm charge. The officer saw the guy shoot, so starts chasing and by the time he catches him some 300 yards away the gun is in the bushes. Best I could figure is the jury was trying to cut the guy some slack and didn't realize they acquitted on the potential 120 day jail sentence and convicted on the two year prison sentence. To me the unlawful discharge evidence was much stronger.

 

Uh, the justice system is supposed to be used as a weapon against criminals.

 

As cynical bastardy as I am, surprisingly enough I find this to be my prediction as well.

 

It would be rare for anyone found guilty of what Trump is charged with to do time as a first offender under New York state sentencing guidelines.

 

When businessmen can't falsify records to cover up illicit activities, we all lose a little freedom.

 

Do crimes no other president ever dreamed about, then whine about how it is all unprecedented. And the zombie army eats it up.

 

You can tell it was a legit payment and not at all an effort to hide hush money by the way they tacked on the income taxes. Most billionaires have their lawyers mortgage houses to pay hush money. You can't expect Donald Trump to just have $130,000 laying around, and getting Cohen to put his house up for $130,000 in hush money was clearly legit.


I predict hung jury.

 

It would also be quite rare for the criminal to have been the president of the United States.

Here's a novel concept: crimes should have consequences.