A message to Americans: vote for Trump If you are an American who is voting today, you need to...

Who could possibly be a better choice for another term than the man ranked as the absolute worst president in American history by a panel of 155 scholars, historians, economists, military experts and constitutional lawyers? A convicted felon...convicted rapist...serial liar....serial adulterer....facing charges still for federal election cheating on RICO chatges and a multiple count indictment for espionage. Of the 44 in his last cabinet and staff in the White House...NONE recommend a vote for him in 2024 because of his absolute incompetence, lack of respect for the law and the Constitution....and his constant desire to do whatever is corrupt to better himself. He has dissed and is openly racist against women.....veterans.....blacks....latinos....Muslims....Jews. ..union workers.....fellow Republicans.....im fact find someone other than white supermacists. The KKK and militia groups he has NOT dissed. Hes vulgar, irrational, delusional in his lies, the oldest most senile man ever to he in this election.....and even his own wife and kuds want to be seen with him on the campaign trail.

Yeah hes a real winner. I mean.....whiner

ElwoodBlues · M

Then:
"In my administration, I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information," — Candidate Donald J Trump, Aug. 16, 2016, West Bend, Wisconsin

"On political corruption, we are going to restore honor to our government. In my administration, I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law." — Candidate Donald J Trump, Aug. 18, 2016, Charlotte NC

"One of the first things we must do is to enforce all classification rules and to enforce all laws relating to the handling of classified information." — Candidate Donald J Trump, Sept 7, 2016, Philadelphia

The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by "intelligence" like candy. Very un-American!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017

Now:

The affidavit used a handful of acronyms when describing the sensitivity of the documents that were recovered from Mar-a-Lago earlier in the year. This alphabet soup is probably confusing to most Americans, but national security experts have said it reveals the horrifying scope of this security breach.

Some of the classified documents that Trump brought with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago contained markings for “HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI,” according to the FBI affidavit.

“HCS” indicates that the material is about human sources, or spies, that often work with the CIA. “FISA” relates to court-ordered surveillance collecting foreign intelligence, including wiretaps. “ORCON” means the document is so sensitive that its originator must approve any request to share it. “NOFORN” means the material can’t be shared with any foreign entities, even allies, without permission. “SI,” short for Special Intelligence, relates to signals intercepts, which are typically handled by the National Security Agency.

These phrases confirm what many feared – that the documents that may have been illegally mishandled at Mar-a-Lago contained some of America’s most sensitive secrets.

Boxes containing classified documents that were stored in Mar-a-Lago’s White and Gold Ballroom between January and March 2021. Photo: Department of Justice

In December 2021, a Trump aide found some of the boxes spilled on the floor of the storage room. One document was marked "SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY," meaning it can only be released within the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, per the indictment. Photo: DOJ

ElwoodBlues · M

It may not be a crime to pay a sexworker for sex.
It may not be a crime to pay a sexworker for silence.

But is sure as heck IS a crime to list any of those payments as "legal expenses" (which are tax deductible) on your official paperwork.

In Trump's New York hush money trial he is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business documents. That's the actual crime he is charged with.

One more wrinkle: that crime can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on whether it was done with the aim or objective of committing another crime (extra wrinkle: the other crime doesn't have to have been proven in a separate court). In such cases, the other crime is called an object offense.

In his filing, Bragg sets out four potential object offenses: violations of federal campaign finance law under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA); violations of New York Election Law § 17-152; violations of federal, local, and state tax law; and additional falsifications of business records outside the Trump Organization. Merchan allowed Bragg to move forward with the first three theories but tossed out the last one.

Looks like both Trump and Cohen filed false tax documents based on the payments, so the "violations of federal, local, and state tax law" (3rd object offense) looks like it will hold up. There are additional witnesses to say the hush money was paid for campaign purposes. That'll enable the 1st & 2nd object offenses.

This is mostly a documents case. There are written notes about paying Cohen back and tax impacts. There are 12 checks from Trump to Cohen. The witnesses are there mostly to tell the story to the jury and explain the meanings of the documents.

“I made a boo-boo,” Jeffrey S. McConney admitted when describing the erroneous math he scribbled on “TRUMP” corporate letterhead.

The former Trump Organization controller testified about the notes he took during a January 2017 meeting that laid out how the family real estate company was going to surreptitiously reimburse attorney Michael Cohen for fronting the $130,000 that silenced the porn star Stormy Daniels. That payment kept her from going public about her decade-old, one-night stand with Trump in the days before the 2016 presidential election.

The farce was laid out in black and white, with handwritten notes explaining the fuzzy math at play.