"It's clear Trump wanted to avoid the bloodbath of a cross-examination but wanted to say something"

“It’s clear Trump wanted to avoid the bloodbath of a cross-examination but wanted to say something”

Former President Donald Trump spent just three minutes on the witness stand Thursday in his defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carroll, using his testimony to declare that he backs his prior deposition denying the writer’s claims.

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As Trump left the courtroom, according to The Messenger’s Adam Klasfeld, he complained to the press in the gallery, saying, “It’s not America. It’s not America. This is not America.”

  • BakerBagel@midwest.social
    5·
    2 years ago

    But this isn’t a criminal case, it’s a civil case in the state of New York. Even if Trump wins in November, he will still have to pay up, and wont be able to pardon himself or tell his AG to drop the case. All Habba us doing is pissing off the judge

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      2 years ago

      He’s not paying a damn thing himself, it will come out of some SuperPAC. He doesn’t care that it’s illegal. He already knows nobody can investigate him if he is President, except for Congress, and he just needs 34 Senators willing to keep him away from any consequences of that.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
        2·
        2 years ago

        As a sitting President, the court system is likely to defer any lawsuit until after his term is over, saying that his Presidential duties supersede her civil claims.

        Nope. See Clinton v. Jones, 1997:

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_v._Jones

        “landmark United States Supreme Court case establishing that a sitting President of the United States has no immunity from civil law litigation, in federal court, for acts done before taking office and unrelated to the office.[1] In particular, there is no temporary immunity and thus no delay of federal cases until the President leaves office.[1]”

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
        1·
        2 years ago

        What if Trump just says “Nah, I’m not gonna pay.”. Then what?

        It sounds like you haven’t ever seen a subpoena sent to a financial institution. As long as Trump’s money is in a US bank or financial institution, it’s easy to get.

        You just have to prove to a judge that he’s not paying. The judge issues a subpoena to the financial institution to hand over information regarding any accounts he has. If he has trusts, it’s a bit more complicated but no US financial institution is going to shield any of their clients from legal fines or penalties. They can easily lose their license for that.

        Once all the asset details are known, the judge orders payouts. I’m not a lawyer and have never done it, but just looking at wording on the subpoena is enough. “Chase Bank will provide all documents related to accounts owned or controlled by or for the benefit of: whoever”. Their legal department wants to comply as fast as possible with something like this, so they will issue checks as soon as they can.