Judge demands Trump surrender his financial records

AlterNet reports:

By Nick Hilden

“ On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump must surrender detailed financial documents relating to his defamation lawsuit against the BBC. According to Politico, "U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett concluded that Trump’s sweeping complaint put injury to his businesses at the forefront and made their vitality a fair subject for the BBC to demand information about."

“All of President Trump’s brand, properties and businesses are impugned or said to have been impugned. Reputational, economic damages, all of that is now at issue in this case,” Lett said at the conclusion of a three-hour hearing. As Politico reports, "Her decision opened the door for the BBC to explore the finances of more than 400 companies owned by a Trump family trust, but Trump can appeal the ruling to U.S. District Court Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee." Trump's attorney declined to comment on whether or not the president would appeal.

"Trump’s lawyers had tried to head off the ruling by backing away from some of his initial damage claims, giving up on assertions that the 2024 BBC documentary had caused him economic injuries and diminished the value of his companies," explains Politico. "Brito told Lett the president’s approach to the case has 'evolved' and he is now pursuing only damage to his reputation — not his businesses — as a result of how the BBC spliced together portions of Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021 speech. Trump contends that the edit made it sound like he called for violence when he did not."

Brito told the court, “The damages are limited in a way that is different from when the case was originally filed. Even if there has been a harm to the brand, we are not pursuing that as part of our damages….It’s a far more narrow scope of what this case is about.”

In the end, the judge declared that she "lacked the power" to drop the business element from the complaint. As Politico notes, "The hearing could serve as a reminder to Trump that the headline-grabbing lawsuits he’s fond of filing against media outlets are a two-way street, giving the press added leverage to pry into his business dealings and controversial episodes he might prefer to consign to history."

This comes as one of several legal setbacks that have hit Trump recently. In June, Trump's lawsuit against the BBC received a major "bench slap" when a judge censured his legal team for missing a deadline. In April, a judge threw out his lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, calling it "groundless." And last year, yet another suit, this one against CNN, was dismissed as "meritless."

Trump has also encountered legal troubles beyond these attacks on the First Amendment. Last week, a judge issued yet another slap down of Trump's "slush fund" for J6ers. The following day, a judge warned Trump's attorneys for using fake citations generated by AI. At the same time, his case against an Olympian charged with vandalizing the Reflecting Pool appeared to implode due to contradictory evidence submitted by White House lawyers.”

My comments:

Bolded emphasis mine.

What goes around, comes around Demented Donnie—now fess up and turn over all your financial records tout suite!

EldritchFox · 41-45, F

And we'll care about that just like we care about the Epstein files. No doubt he and his buddies are making a fortune off of the war he started for no reason too. We don't even talk about Venezuela anymore.

My biggest issue is that nobody really does anything to him.

I'm all for getting him out of any leadership role, it's just, he's still here. Even after his first presidency, the insurrection, the everything... He doesn't go away.

MoveAlong · 70-79, M

@KunsanVeteran I'm hoping and believe that our top military brass hate him as much as some of us do. He has screwed the military over probably worse than any agency of the government. Maybe they won't allow him to take over.

KunsanVeteran · M

@MoveAlong Let’s explore this a little more—from both the POV of the Democrats and the MAGAs:

The MAGAs are plotting how to interfere in the execution of the elections through their gerrymandering, polling place disturbances and intimidation, manipulating the counting of the votes, etc. In point of fact, while actual voting fraud was exceedingly rare in the ‘16, ‘20, and ‘24 elections the actual fraudulent votes cast were primarily by Republicans. The votes that were initially declared fraudulent by Democrats in TX and FL were all when election officials issued ballots to potential voters who either were told that they were clear to cast ballots or were prior felons who were clear to vote but the voting registers hadn’t been updated to reflect that their fines et al had been successfully resolved.

Now what are the Democrats doing? Those folks illegally fired for being DEI rather than merit based have been energized to get active. As I wrote previously, the fired JAGs, Inspectors General, federal prosecutors, etc. are networking, preparing court briefs, and quietly getting prepared IAW their personal expertise. They’re working hard for their candidates. They’re calling attention to ICE atrocities and MAGA abuses. Farmers and other groups who were hammered by tRUMP’s tariffs, his illegal war, affordability crises, etc. are angry and will be voting.

Young adults are getting involved. No Kings Days continue and are gaining momentum.

Hold the faith. Encourage each other. Keep calling attention to all the tRUMP misadministration’s failures. The longer this illegal war drags on, prices remain high, the EPSTEIN FILES HANG OVER DONNIE’s FAT HEAD, the tRUMP buy a President Pardon for $ 1 million + scam (and others) persist, the more likely we are to see much needed change.