Opening Statements in Trump's First Criminal Case

Donald Trump's longtime aide and confidant, Hope Hicks, testified as a witness for the prosecution in Trump's New York State trial for falsifying business records to gain unfair advantage in the 2016 presidential election. There's been plenty of discussion about how damaging HIck's testimony was to the former president. Glenn explains why he thinks prosecutors called Hicks as the last witness on a Friday before the jury went out for the weekend, and why, by the end of the trial, it will become even more clear why her testimony was sharply incriminating of Trump.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's not often that a presiding judge publicly calls out a defendant for lying outside the courtroom. Yet, that is precisely what New York State court judge Juan Merchan found himself having to do when Donald Trump claimed that a gag order prohibited him from testifying in his own defense at trial.As reported by The Hill, the "Judge in Trump's hush money (election interference) case clarifies gag order doesn't prevent ex-president from testifying."And perhaps the worst part - at least for the legal profession - is that, as Trump lied to the American people, his defense attorney stood by his side smiling and nodding.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a moment that makes one wonder if we will ever learn our lesson, Donald Trump gives an interview to Time magazine and says he won't rule out violence if he loses the 2024 election. As CNN reported, "Trump doesn't rule out political violence if he loses." This prompts one obvious question . . . what the hell are we doing!?If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Donald Trump has many "firsts" to his credit: first former president criminally indicted by a state; first former president criminally indicted by the feds; first former president tried for his crimes; and now, first former president held in criminal contempt. Glenn reviews Judge Juan Merchan's order, finding - beyond a reasonable doubt - that Donald Trump violated New York law nine times by committing the crime of contempt of court. Glenn also discusses the implications of this finding in the four criminal cases in which Trump is on pretrial release.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Donald Trump is indicted on 88 felony counts, across four jurisdictions, for crimes he committed - many of them while he was serving as president. Trump's lawyer, John Sauer, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that Trump shouldn't be prosecuted for the crimes that were committed while he was in office. Specifically, Sauer said that the following acts are official presidential acts that would be covered by presidential immunity: ordering the assassination of a political rival; ordering the military to stage a coup to keep the president in power after he lost an election; and selling our nation's nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary. But Glenn says he's worried about something even worse than Sauer's deeply anti-democratic, anti-rule-of-law, and anti-constitutional arguments. Some of the Supreme Court Justices seemed to be seriously entertaining those arguments. And none more that Justice Samuel Alito.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Donald Trump, on trial in New York for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, has denied any relationship with Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels. Yet he arranged for them to be paid more than $100,000 each to cover up information they could provide about him, so that information would not hurt his election chances in the 2016 presidential election. He then falsified business records to disguise the true nature of the payments he made to Daniels.Even though McDougal and Daniels took no part in falsifying those business records, Glenn explains why their testimony may prove to be some on the most damning evidence in the eyes of the jurors. If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As The New York Times reported, " Trump's Trial Could Bring a Rarity: Consequences for His Words." People are fully aware that Donald Trump says and posts anything that occurs to him in the moment, without any filter or regard for the truth of what he's saying or the consequences of the lies he tells. But now that Trump is moving from the court of public opinion into the actual courts of criminal law - there are several ways his words will come back to haunt him. Glenn discusses the three ways Donald Trump's own words will sink him at trial.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Judge Juan Merchan is about to decide if Donald Trump is guilty of criminal contempt for violating the court's gag order at his election interference trial in New York. Assuming he holds Trump in contempt, that will represent a violation of Trump's conditions of pretrial release in his criminal cases. Why is this dire for Trump? Judge's have told him: one of the conditions he must obey while on release is that he not commit any new state, federal, or local offenses because if he does he can be revoked on pretrial release. The consequences of being found in criminal contempt may end up being even more damaging for Trump then he realizes - much more than the $1000 per violation money fines and 30 day per violation jail terms that he is now facing in Judge Merchan's court in New York.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Day two of his criminal trial was no better for Donald Trump than day one. His friend and long-time associate David Pecker testified about the dirty "catch-and-kill" scheme they conspired to execute to assist Trump in his political pursuits. Pecker also testified that Trump was very detail-oriented, to the point of being a "micromanager." This directly undercut Trump's lawyer's contention during opening statements that Trump had no idea why he was writing multiple $30,000 checks (totaling $420,000 in all) on his personal checking account and delivering the checks to Michael Cohen. In essence, defense lawyer Todd Blanche was urging the jury to check their common sense at the courtroom door. Even worse for Blanche, at one point during the criminal contempt argument for Trump's repeated violation of his gag order, Judge Merchan told Blanche, "you're losing all credibility with the court". Given that the penalty for criminal contempt is up to 30 days in jail per violation, there is a very real possibility that Trump could end up in jail. Indeed, The New York Times reported that the United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies have been meeting to determine how they would handle Trump's incarceration if he is ordered jailed.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Donald Trump's first criminal trial (of four criminal trials) started in earnest on Monday with opening statements and it turned out to be something of a lopsided affair. Glenn reviews some of the points made by the prosecution and some of the . . . curious arguments offered by Donald Trump's defense attorney.If you're interested in supporting our all-volunteer efforts, you can become a Team Justice patron at: / glennkirschner  If you'd like to support us and buy Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise visit:https://shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkir...Check out Glenn's website at https://glennkirschner.com/Follow Glenn on:Threads: https://www.threads.net/glennkirschner2Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.