Teflon Don
While Trump's multiple cases keep him in the spotlight, recent judgements go in his favor
Yesterday was another great day for former President Donald Trump. The parent company of Truth Social will be merged with a SPAC to become a public company - Trump Media and Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT). Reportedly, the former President owns an over $3B stake in the enterprise, which traded up 50% yesterday, and settled about 40% higher in anticipation of the merger completing today. This should go a long way to fix his short term cash flow issues presumably caused by the multiple legal judgements he faces.
Speaking of which, the former President’s legal team scored a major victory by winning a reduction of the bond required in his “fraud” case in Manhattan. A bail appeals court reduced the punishing requirement of a $454M bond from Judge Engeron, to $175M - a 61% reduction - and gave the former President ten more days to arrange its payment/posting. This will enable the former President’s legal team to continue their appeal of the ruling without the President having any of his assets seized in the process.
This win comes on the heels of the victory they scored a few weeks ago in the Georgia RICO case, in which embattled DA Fani Willis was forced to fire her ex-boyfriend from his role as the main prosecutor and had six of the counts against Trump and his co-defendents dropped. The Trump team is poised to appeal the decision to allow DA Willis to continue, while she also faces other legal challenges based upon her unprofessional conduct.
Meanwhile, President Trump was attending a hearing in a third case, about money paid to Stormy Daniels in 2016 - two Presidential elections and three different inquiries that led to no charges ago. In his statement to the press celebrating these victories outside that hearing President Trump identified a potential villain in all of this lawfare converging on the President in the middle of this election year - Matthew Colangelo.
According to reports, Mr. Colangelo worked as the #3 at Biden’s Department of Justice under Merrick Garland. Prior to that he worked at the New York Attorney General’s office, where he led the case against the Trump Foundation. He reportedly also led the NYAG's opposition to the Trump administration's efforts to add a citizenship question to the U.S. census. Then, after serving for about a year in the Biden DoJ, he was hired by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney bringing the Stormy Daniels case. Strange as this came after Bragg initially decided against charges in the case but somehow completely reversed course after hiring Colangelo.
So, Colangelo is presumably working on his third case against the former President, and may have participated in the work up of the fourth case brought by NYAG James, which is the real estate “fraud” case mentioned above.
While these facts may be circumstantial, it certainly creates the appearance that Colangelo is a hired gun for Democratic operatives at DoJ, the New York Attorney General’s office and the Manhattan DA who want to “get Trump” - both James and Bragg campaigned to do just that. And the former President was quick to identify Mr. Colangelo as the new villain in the saga, calling Mr. Colangelo one of, “Biden’s thugs.”
Certainly, as the many charges across multiple jurisdictions began to pile up, the “91 counts” seemed to add up to a justice system bent on destroying the man. Of course Trump’s most ardent supporters believe this wholeheartedly, but even disinterested voters have begun to suspect the same. Now as the meat of the cases start to become public, and Trump begins to win small victories, skepticism regarding their veracity has continued to rise.
DA Bragg’s case is eight years old, and relies on a legal theory that renowned legal scholar Jonathan Turley likened to a Slurpee, “it was immediately satisfying for many with virtually no legal substance.”
Next, Letitia James brought her case, in which the judge summarily ruled in her favor without trial and delivered a ludicrous verdict for a “crime” with no victim and no rationale. An $18M valuation for Mar-a-Lago is a clown’s ruling at a show trial. It will be reversed on appeal.
The coverage of DA Fani Willis’ case has thus far focused not on Trump, but her own clear violations of professionalism and the public trust. She faces reprimand, dismissal and disbarment. Not a great way to take down a President.
Finally, Jack Smith’s two federal cases face some major challenges. In the first case regarding classified documents, President Biden just escaped charges for essentially the exact same behavior, with a much larger cache of documents, stored in many more locations, for decades longer, without having been the President who has the ultimate authority to declassify as Commander-In-Chief.
In Special Counsel Jack Smith’s second case against Trump regarding January Sixth, Mr. Smith attempted to fast track his case to the Supreme Court in an obvious move to get Trump before the next election. While I understand the partisan need to have Trump convicted to create smooth sailing for Biden’s re-election, this obviously does not supersede the need to have due process, including a fair and open trial that follows the process of the law. The Defendant has rights under the Constitution that far supersede any political benefit imagined by the verdict. Ignoring those rights is tantamount to destroying the Republic the enemies of Trump claim to want to save.
So, it is entirely possible that President Trump will run the gauntlet and escape any meaningful judgements before November. It is possible all of these cases are without real merit. There is a justifiable suspicion the goal of these prosecutions has never been blind justice, but a clear-eyed legal lynching of the current front runner for the Presidency of the United States.