Donald Trump Indicted on 7 Counts

[Fitzcarraldo]

Do readers here have a favourite building? I detest the Guggenheim -a multi-storey car part masquerading as an art gallery. Grand Central Station has great sightlines depending on where you are standing and the time of day. It's a tough one to unpack though.

The Chrysler Building is my favorite.

[blackchubby38]

Do readers here have a favourite building? I detest the Guggenheim -a multi-storey car part masquerading as an art gallery. Grand Central Station has great sightlines depending on where you are standing and the time of day. It's a tough one to unpack though.

The Twin Tow... Oh yeah, that's right.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

In the first link, the possibility is discussed, that Donald Trump might file for Bankruptcy to delay -avoid?- coming up with the money he owes the citizens of New York City. In the UK it used to be a simple case that if an MP was declared Bankrupt he or she could not sit in the House of Commons or vote -the law has since been modified but the basic position is that you can't become an MP if bankrupt so I wonder why in the US there has not been a similar provision in the Constitution to bar from standing any candidate who is Bankrupt, and I would also have hoped they could have added that the candidate should not be in debt to x amount of dollars.
In other words, Trump could declare himself bankrupt and still run indeed, be elected President? A Bankrupt President -the irony!
The link also suggests that while he may own outright some of the properties in NYC, he may also be in debt due to mortgaging or some other leveraging not publicly disclosed, while in other cases he only owns a percentage of the real estate= hence the proposition that in reality Trump's asset values might not be as high as he claims when you drill into the numbers.
Could Trump be forced into bankruptcy? Hear why former investment banker thinks so (yahoo.com)

The other link is to a statement made by one of Trump's lawyers, Alina Habba regarding the New York property judgment-

""It is intentionally to interfere in the election, to hurt President Trump, to try and ruin his company, and ruin a person and a family whose private company, not public company, has made the skyline of New York changed forever," Habba added."
Fox News Asks Alina Habba If Donald Trump's Bond Will Come From Russia (newsweek.com)

Did Trump change the skyline of New York -surely she means Manhattan?- 'forever'? And was that dramatic change the work of a private company all on its own, led by its visionary CEO? Or were the buildings Trump -and Habba- claim as his legacy, constructed using money from the taxpayer's of New York through construction loans Trump used, plus loans that Trump got from a bank or banks to pay the bills of the various companies -none owned by Trump- who did the actual construction, one of which, a cement company was owned as a legitimate business by two of the most notorious/famous Mafia Dons in the city, etc etc.

I haven't been to NYC for years now, but I was always struck by the diversity of its architecture, but also felt that those tall glass and concrete towers were the least interesting when set in the overall context of the city. There is more subtlety in many NYC buildings than the towers allow.

Do readers here have a favourite building? I detest the Guggenheim -a multi-storey car part masquerading as an art gallery. Grand Central Station has great sightlines depending on where you are standing and the time of day. It's a tough one to unpack though.

The Empire State Building.

[Stavros]

The Twin Tow... Oh yeah, that's right.

Ok, look, I did not think the Twin Towers had any architectural merit, but they were a 'totemic' part of the Manhattan. I cannot forget the moment when I left NYC for the second time (I had flown in from London, travelled across the US and Canada and then back to NYC). When I turned round on the bus to JFK there was the whole of the Manhattan skyline from the Twin Towers at one end, with a deep red Sun about to set over Harlem, it was so beautiful I admit I was close to tears. That skyline has gone now, but the subtleties of the Manhattan building fabric (I don't know the other Boroughs) remains a fascinating aspect of the city. I might also say that my recollection of a section of 6th Avenue was of a cluster of rectangular towers typical of modernist brutalism, and I think one of them is now owned by Jared Kushner, which might make sense even if he didn't have to pay for it.

[Stavros]

The Empire State Building.

Hmm...liking a building doesn't mean it is a beaut.

[Stavros]

Further to a point I made the other day, and bearing in mind I don't know a lot of details about US regulations, I came across this today. Senator Robert Casten (D) made these points about transparency and the obligations in the US-

""The presumptive @GOP nominee for President is desperate for $464M (and counting) which he cannot personally access," Casten posted on X. "That fact alone makes him a massive national security risk; any foreign adversary seeking to buy a President knows the price."

"All lawmakers and even congressional candidates are required to post regular reports of their assets and liabilities, but Casten said Trump's finances have never been fully reported to the public and should be more worthy of investigation than President Joe Biden's family members."
Trump flagged as 'massive security risk' after he's unable to post bond in fraud judgment - Raw Story

My guess is that Trump will do anything he can not to part with a Dime of the money he owes through fines. By contrast, JD Rockefeller, by the time he died, had given away $550.5 million dollars, and his Foundation has never ceased spending millions a year on a variety of philanthropical projects, where the Trump Foundation was closed down -as the New York Times reported it in 2018-

"The Donald J. Trump Foundation, once billed as the charitable arm of the president’s financial empire, agreed to dissolve on Tuesday and give away all its remaining assets under court supervision as part of an ongoing investigation and lawsuit by the New York attorney general.The foundation was accused by the attorney general, Barbara Underwood, of “functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests,” and of engaging in “a shocking pattern of illegality” that included unlawfully coordinating with Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign."
Trump Foundation Will Dissolve, Accused of ‘Shocking Pattern of Illegality’ - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Rockefeller, even after the 1911 judgment that led to the break-up of the Standard Oil empire, always claimed the firm had not broken ant--trust law, but he never complained about the decision, Standard Oil re-invented itself as multiple separate companies, and the old man retired soon after. Whatever you think of Rockefeller, the contrast with Trump could not be more Stark -one of them having more associations with organized crime and convicted criminals -some of who may be part of the 2024 campaign- than the other.

A favourable view and quite a good overview of the Rockefeller story is here-
John D. Rockefeller and the Oil Industry (fee.org)

[Stavros]

I am puzzled by the process known as 'Jury Vetting', which begins in Manhattan today in the criminal case against Trump.

I understand that there are rules in the US, and also in the UK about the members of the Jury, for example if there is a suspicion that one or members of the Jury is known to the Defendant, or has been 'nobbled' by associates of the Defendant, and so on. There has long been a belief that in complex financial cases Jurors should at least be familiar with the language and concept, even the practices of the financial system, but it could be argued it is up to the lawyers and the Judge to render complex issues into language simple enough for the Jury to reach a decision.

Can Trump get a fair trial in New York? The question is in effect, an insult to the process: it should not matter if the Juror has voted or not voted, has strong views either way, but that the job of the Jury is to make a judgment based on the evidence in Court. If the trial was in Texas, would it be the case that Trump knows the Jury is on his side and doesn't complain about the process?

In the case of OJ Simpson, probably, at the time, the most famous American to be put on trial for murder, the alternative case is offered, that the mostly Black Jurors were pre-disposed to acquit because they knew of, or had personal experience of the conduct of the LAPD which was often the target of the Defence argument -consider the outrageous claim of 'Genocidal Racism' that Johnny Cochran used. Ultimately, though, it is argued that the Prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Simpson did it, though critics still lament the decision. After all, either the LAPD has nobody else in the frame for the murder, or they didn't do their job properly and missed the evidence someone else did it.

Either way, it seems to me you cannot ask a Juror if they are biased toward the defendant, as on that basis, Trump -or any other well known person- would never be tried in a Court of Law. I think that is called 'Immunity'.

[Stavros]

I found this after posting the above, it reviews some of the questions that can be asked of Jurors, though I am not sure all of them are relevant.

A jury of his peers: A look at how jury selection will work in Donald Trump's first criminal trial (yahoo.com)

[Stavros]

How can it be possible for Fox News to challenge a juror -in any trial? Would it not be possible for Jury Vetting to take place in a court room without the Press in attendance? Is there no reasonable way that this process can take place without putting the Jurors in danger, and by ensuring that they are entitled to be chosen?

Trump trial juror excused over concerns of identification after being targeted on Fox News – live (theguardian.com)

[filghy2]

There are laws against jury tampering that could be applied, though judges have clearly been reluctant to do this against Trump.

It's interesting to see what details the media are allowed to publish on jury members. In some cases it seems to be enough that acquaintances could be able to identify them.
https://www.politico.com/live-update...-jury-00153194