Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Left appears to have turned on Willis. Like rats deserting a sinking ship
Many of us were demoralized by Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee’s decision on Friday to allow District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the RICO case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants. McAfee ruled that Willis may carry on as long as she fires ex-lover Nathan Wade, whom she hired as the special prosecutor in the case in November 2021. Wade resigned from the position on Friday
Throughout McAfee’s 23-page ruling, he sharply criticized both Willis and Wade for their questionable testimony and their “bad choices.” Yet, he concluded, “Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices — even repeatedly.”
He wrote that his decision is “by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony."
Hundreds of Hollywood stars unite to denounce Oscar winner's controversial speech
Top Hollywood stars like Debra Messing and Julianna Margulies are among over 450 Jewish individuals in the entertainment industry denouncing "The Zone of Interest" director Jonathan Glazer's controversial Oscars acceptance speech about the Israel-Hamas war.
"We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination," an open letter first reported Monday by Variety read. "Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. But Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th."
The signatories continued, "The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history. It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film."
Alongside Messing and Margulies are actors Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tovah Feldshuh, Lisa Edelstein and Brett Gelman, top producer Amy Pascal, and filmmakers Eli Roth and Rod Lurie.
What will happen if Trump can’t post $454M bond in his civil fraud case by Monday’s deadline?
New York Attorney General Letitia James will be free to start going after Donald Trump’s prized properties should the former president fail to make the deadline to post the $454 million bond in his civil fraud case.
Trump, 77, on Monday filed papers in an appeal court case seeking to get out of having to post the bond as he fights the massive judgment from February — which accrues $112,000 in interest daily.
The presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee had approached over 30 firms to secure the bond — to no avail — and he’s facing “insurmountable difficulties” getting the financial backing, his attorneys wrote in the filings.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered the hefty judgment against the real estate mogul in February after a three-month trial in which the AG’s office argued Trump exaggerated his net worth by billions a year on financial statements to get better loan and insurance terms.
Trump has said he plans to fight Engeron’s decision, but he must either put the full judgment amount in escrow or secure a bond to show he’s good for the money if he loses his appeal.
“If you’re trying to appeal a financial penalty, the courts want to make sure if you lose at the end of the day you can pay the penalty,” said Kevin J. O’Brien, a former prosecutor and current defense attorney in New York, adding it was “standard procedure.”
“This is an attempt to keep appellants honest,” O’Brien explained.
“The real difficulty is the size of the judgment is so huge.”
The bond would require Trump to post 120% of what he owes with collateral — amounting to $557.5 million, according to his lawyers.
Trump previously sought to lower the bond amount to $100 million and is now seeking to get out of paying the bond altogether.
O’Brien said that if Trump can prove to the court that he is likely to ultimately win his appeal, he “might have an argument” to get the bond amount lowered.
Could Trump sell off or mortgage his properties?
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