What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Valmy]

Looking forward to the House Committee that finds he was both framed and fully justified in his actions.

Fortunately New Mexico doesn't have to listen to the Feds in this case.

Dude lost his election by 50 points in a historically very blue district and was STILL claiming the election was stolen from him. A caricature of the insane Trumpist made flesh.

[The Larch]

Trump gets judicially spanked once more.

Trump and lawyer ordered to pay $1m for bringing 'frivolous' lawsuit against Hillary Clinton
In scathing ruling, US district court judge writes, 'misuse of the courts by Mr Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law'

A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump and one of his attorneys to jointly pay nearly $1m in penalties for pursuing a frivolous lawsuit that accused Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and other perceived enemies of the former president of engaging in racketeering and concocting a vast conspiracy against him.

The suit was dismissed in September and Trump was ordered to pay tens of thousands in November after one defendant sought sanctions. The latest order came after a group of the remaining defendants, including Clinton, filed a separate request for sanctions.

The end of the lawsuit marks the latest legal setback for Trump as he grapples with an array of civil and criminal investigations, including the probe into his retention of sensitive documents, while some of his lawyers are under scrutiny themselves for conduct in those cases.

In a scathing ruling, US district court judge Donald Middlebrooks castigated Trump and his lead attorney, Alina Habba, for abusing the legal system by advancing a lawsuit that furthered his political grievances over the 2017 Russia investigation using arguments replete with misinformation and errors.

"We are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose," Middlebrooks wrote in the 46-page order imposing sanctions of $937,989.39 against Trump and Habba.

The lawsuit, originally filed by Trump in March 2022, alleged that Clinton and the Democratic National Committee conspired with senior FBI officials and others before the 2016 election to fabricate ties between the Trump campaign and Russia in order to damage him politically.

But Middlebrooks dismissed the case after he found that Trump engaged in a scattershot pleading that amounted to an obstruction of justice, and which included allegations that were known to be false. His legal arguments, including racketeering and conspiracy, were found to be without foundation.

The judge noted for instance that Trump's allegations that former FBI director James Comey conspired with Clinton to prosecute him was wrong – as Trump was never prosecuted – while such a conspiracy was implausible since Comey likely damaged Clinton's 2016 campaign by reopening the investigation into her emails.

"I find that the pleadings here were abusive litigation tactics. The complaint and amended complaint were drafted to advance a political narrative; not to address legal harm caused by any defendant," Middlebrooks wrote of Trump's lawsuit.

The judge also found that Trump's racketeering and conspiracy lawsuit appeared to be part of a pattern by the former president of misusing the courts by filing frivolous lawsuits in order to serve a political purpose.

"Misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm" he wrote.

Middlebrooks examined other seemingly politically motivated lawsuits filed by Trump and wrote that they all followed a playbook of including provocative rhetoric, political language carried over from rallies, attacks on political opponents and, typically, a lack of legal analysis.

"Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process," the judge wrote. "He knew full well the impact of his actions."

The immediate fallout of the sanctions order was not clear. Trump had wanted to drop the lawsuit after the case was assigned to Middlebrooks, an appointee of Bill Clinton, but Habba told Fox News in a segment referenced in the ruling that she had advised him to press ahead.

Trump and Habba – as well as her law firm Habba, Madaio and Associates – are jointly liable for the $1m penalty, though the former president indicated to associates that he essentially believed it should be paid by his attorney instead of him, according to sources familiar with the matter.

A spokesperson for Trump could not be reached for comment. A spokesperson for Habba did not provide comment.

The penalty handed down by the judge, designed to disincentive future frivolous lawsuits, is in addition to a $50,000 fine imposed in November and $16,000 in reimbursement of legal costs for Charles Dolan, a Democratic public relations executive, who filed the first sanctions request.

[Admiral Yi]

Footage of the Pelosi attack.

[grumbler]

Footage of the Pelosi attack.

Kool

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNNBgcMlNKc

woops

[Syt]

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-organization-claims-doesnt-exist-ny-fraud-suit-2023-1?op=1

Donald Trump argues in wild court filing that New York can't sue the Trump Organization because it doesn't legally exist

Donald Trump, his real-estate company and his three eldest children have filed an extraordinary, nose-thumbing response to the $250 million fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James in September, stating that "Trump Organization" is branding shorthand — not a legal entity — so it can't be sued.

"To the extent a response is required, Defendant specifically denies the definitions of "Trump Organization" and "Defendants," reads Donald Trump's response to the lawsuit, one of 16 answers filed late Thursday night.

"While the shorthand "Trump Organization" is utilized by Defendants for branding and business purposes, no entity as such exists for legal purposes," Donald Trump's response continues, using language that is repeated throughout his 300-page filing and throughout the similarly-lengthy 15 filings of his fellow defendants.

New York's lawsuit names Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, former company CFO Allen Weisselberg and its former payroll executive Jeffrey McConney. It also names 10 entities under the Trump Organization umbrella — including "The Trump Organization, Inc.", a registered corporation in New York since 1981.

But even the response filed Thursday by Trump Organization, Inc., repeatedly makes the same argument: "While the shorthand 'Trump Organization' is utilized by Defendants for branding purposes, no entity exists for legal purposes."

New York's lawsuit does not specifically sue anything called "Trump Organization."

The lawsuit does, however, repeatedly make general reference to the Trump Organization, doing so more than 300 times as a "collective" name for the former president's $3 billion real-estate and golf resort company — and it's on this that Trump and his fellow defendants stake their protest.

The attorney general's many references to the umbrella company in her lawsuit "improperly group Defendants together, without regard to the nature or discrete legal identity of each Defendant," Thursday night's filings repeatedly complain, "without regard to the nature or discrete identity of each Defendant."

The nearly 5,000 pages of answers were filed just before midnight New York time to meet a Thursday deadline for responding to James' sweeping lawsuit alleging the former president engaged in a decade-long pattern of lying about his worth by billions of dollars on financial documents.

James alleges that Trump routinely lied about his assets in order to win favorable terms — and save hundreds of millions of dollars — from bankers, insurers, and tax authorities.

Thursday night's batch of responses briefly address these claims, repeating such blanket denials as "Defendant has not engaged in repeated fraudulent or illegal acts or otherwise demonstrated persistent fraud or illegality in the carrying on, conducting or transacting of business."

The attorney general's lawsuit seeks to permanently ban Donald Trump, his three eldest children, and his real-estate and golf-resort company from doing business in New York, where the business is headquartered and where the bulk of his commercial properties are located.

Lawyers for Trump, his family and his business, including Alina Habba, who filed the 16 responses online, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Ivanka Trump, Reid Figel, declined to comment.

Trump has been expected to fight hard against the attorney general's aggressive attack on his Manhattan-based business empire.

The suit, after all, seeks to cripple the company and would bar the Trump family from selling, collecting rent, or even borrowing money in New York.

Soon after it was filed, former assistant attorney generals told Insider  to expect Trump and his fellow defendants to argue James is out to get him, that no bank or other entity was harmed by the company, and that the defendants and the company relied on the expertise of others.

Thursday's responses do use these arguments — countering at one point that the attorney general has acted contrary to "ancient and customary norms" — along with some others.

The attorney general "lacks jurisdiction over Defendants to the extent that they are not or are no longer residents of New York," some of the responses say.

A trial has been set for October in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.

[Barrister]

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-organization-claims-doesnt-exist-ny-fraud-suit-2023-1?op=1

In a completely random association, after reading this article I flashed back to law school, and a summer job I had doing Indian residential school lawsuits, and trying to figure out the complicated corporate structure of the Catholic church.  There is no one legal entity called the "Roman Catholic Church", only all these separate diocese and orders and whatnot.  Despite the really obvious fact that they all do in fact take their orders from the Pope through the variety on Church laws.

Suing Protestant churches was infinitely simpler, because they did in fact have a single corporate body you could sue.

[mongers]

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-organization-claims-doesnt-exist-ny-fraud-suit-2023-1?op=1

In a completely random association, after reading this article I flashed back to law school, and a summer job I had doing Indian residential school lawsuits, and trying to figure out the complicated corporate structure of the Catholic church.  There is no one legal entity called the "Roman Catholic Church", only all these separate diocese and orders and whatnot.  Despite the really obvious fact that they all do in fact take their orders from the Pope through the variety on Church laws.

Suing Protestant churches was infinitely simpler, because they did in fact have a single corporate body you could sue.

No surprise that the Roman Catholic church turns out to be an incorporeal body, given all centuries they've promoted the notion of such a thing.

[grumbler]

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-organization-claims-doesnt-exist-ny-fraud-suit-2023-1?op=1

In a completely random association, after reading this article I flashed back to law school, and a summer job I had doing Indian residential school lawsuits, and trying to figure out the complicated corporate structure of the Catholic church.  There is no one legal entity called the "Roman Catholic Church", only all these separate diocese and orders and whatnot.  Despite the really obvious fact that they all do in fact take their orders from the Pope through the variety on Church laws.

Suing Protestant churches was infinitely simpler, because they did in fact have a single corporate body you could sue.

No surprise that the Roman Catholic church turns out to be an incorporeal body, given all centuries they've promoted the notion of such a thing.

All corporate persons are incorporeal, though not all are gods.

[The Minsky Moment]

The Trump Organization, Inc. is a registered corporation in the State of New York; its status is listed as "active."  It is one of several entities named as defendants in the AG lawsuit.

[The Minsky Moment]

The story is not a story. the filing is an answer to a complaint; its a technical pleading document; it doesn't seek to dismiss anything.  The answer objects to the definition of the "Trump Organization" as a variety of improper group pleading.  It's all inside baseball lawyer procedural stuff.

[grumbler]

The story is not a story. the filing is an answer to a complaint; its a technical pleading document; it doesn't seek to dismiss anything.  The answer objects to the definition of the "Trump Organization" as a variety of improper group pleading.  It's all inside baseball lawyer procedural stuff.

Is the filing meaningful, or just a filing made to delay the inevitable?

[The Minsky Moment]

Is the filing meaningful, or just a filing made to delay the inevitable?

It's a required formality.  Each numbered paragraph in a complaint has to be separately admitted or denied. But any remotely disputed fact is always denied.

[Syt]

[Zanza]

Wasn't he the person that could have replaced all of these "intelligence lowlifes"?