Tag Archives: Stormy Daniels

DOJ is the wrong target

Can we set the record straight while seeking to determine who is responsible for what cases? Sure, I’ll try …. not that it’ll do any good, given the numbskulls whose vacuous brains I need to probe.

Donald Trump is now a convicted felon. A jury of 12 of his peers delivered a stunning unanimous decision convicting him on 34 counts associated with his hush money payment to Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels. She and the former POTUS had a fling in a hotel room in 2006 and Trump paid her to keep quiet about an event he denies even occurred.

The jury believed her and not him. What does Trump do in response? He blames President Biden for bringing the case against him. He and his allies blame the Justice Department for “weaponizing” its resources to “get” the former POTUS.

He calls Judge Juan Merchon everything but the spawn of Satan. He says the judge is corrupt.

Let’s hold it for a moment. This case was brought by the state of New York. He was prosecuted by an elected district attorney who does not answer to the DOJ, let alone the president. This case was handled under the rule of law. It was done properly. The jury heard the evidence and then delivered its verdict.

I cannot help but wonder whether the former Liar in Chief is cutting his own throat by trashing the very judge who, on July 11, could sentence him to prison. The judge vows to follow the law.

However, he is a human being.

Bizarre season awaits

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friend and foe we all are standing on the doorstep of the craziest, most bizarre and unexplainable political season in history.

That is no hyperbole. It is for real. It is a sickening reality of the state of the American political system and how it has transformed from a process that selects only the very best men and women among us to run for president to one that perverts the rule of law and allows for a major-party POTUS candidate to challenge the very integrity of the system he could take an oath to defend and protect.

Oh, my. Pass the Pepto.

Donald Trump will face a sentencing hearing on July 11 after being convicted on 34 felony counts of paying a porn actress illegally to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter she said the two of them had in 2006. The 45th POTUS denies it took place. The actress, Stephanie Clifford — aka Stormy Daniels — said it did. The jury believed her account and handed down the 34-count guilty verdict.

Less than a week after the hearing, Republicans will gather in Milwaukee to nominate their next candidate for president. It will be — yes, that’s right — the aforementioned convicted criminal.

Is this utterly bizarre, or what?

I was thinking recently of a long-ago time when a vice-presidential candidate was forced to withdraw because of reports he had electro-shock therapy to treat him for depression. The VP nominee was Thomas Eagleton, whom the 1972 presidential nominee George McGovern had selected to run on the Democratic ticket with him. I remember at the time that the media went ballistic over the revelation of treatment; it was successful, by the way. The party, though, got the nervous nellies over it and forced Eagleton to step away. McGovern and the new VP nominee, Sargent Shriver, lost to President Nixon in a historic 49-state landslide.

Now we have this prospect awaiting the next major-party candidate. The POTUS candidate is now convicted of a felony. He is awaiting trial on two federal charges and a third charge in another state court. He has been accused of inciting the assault on our government on Jan. 6, 2021; of hiding classified documents taken illegally from the White House; and of pressuring Georgia officials to “find” enough votes for him to declare victory in that state in 2020.

Are these the kinds of things we now should expect in our presidential candidate? Are we now set to elect this convicted criminal to another term as POTUS?

What in the name of Almighty God have we become if that is the case?

Let us all hold on, gang, for the roughest political ride we’ve ever seen … or likely will ever see.

Accepting the outcome

Believe it or not, but I am working hard at this moment to accept whatever decision the New York trial jury reaches in the trial to determine whether the former POTUS is guilty of campaign fraud.

It is my inherent belief in the American system of jurisprudence that drives me toward that end.

The former Liar in Chief is on trial for campaign fraud related to the $130,000 payment he made to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford — aka Stormy Daniels — to keep her quiet about the tumble the two of them allegedly took prior to his running for president in 2016.

POTUS No. 45 denies the event occurred, but he paid her the dough anyway. Go figure … eh?

The jury could convict the former Philanderer in Chief on all 34 counts. It could acquit him on all of them. It could convict on some of them, acquit on others. It could get hung up on the “reasonable doubt” issue and produce a mistrial.

I am just a mere spectator. None of us has been in the courtroom. We haven’t heard the evidence. We haven’t witnessed the former POTUS nodding off. We haven’t heard the judge scold the defense counsel for misbehavior.

I am left, therefore, to rely on the system that selected these 12 men and women. They were vetted thoroughly by prosecutors and defense counsel.

The court system is in many aspects our last avenue to learning the truth in high-profile and unprecedented cases such as this one.

You know what I want to occur. For those who don’t yet understand where I come down on this, I’ll just say it up front: I want a conviction. Then again, that’s must me, sitting in the peanut gallery … right along with the rest of the nation.

Whatever the jury decides, I’ll just have to accept it.

Don’t mess with this guy

POTUS No. 45 is getting an object lesson on a fact of life, which is that he cannot control every single environment.

I haven’t been following this hush money trial too closely, but I have chuckled — sometimes out loud — at the examples of the judge not standing for the shenanigans that the former sexual assailant in chief has tried to pull in the courtroom.

And yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan told Robert Costello, a witness for the defense, to stop staring him down … or else face the consequence that the judge could level on him and the criminal defendant.

The former philanderer in chief is on trial for paying the adult film star known as Stormy Daniels 130 grand to keep quiet about a tumble that he denies occurred. Go figure … yes?

Now his future is in the hands of the judge and the jury impaneled to hear this tawdry case. As to the discomfort he might be feeling because he isn’t in charge of a damn thing, I don’t give a sh**.

The overfed crook will just have to suck it up.

Would he really jail an ex-POTUS?

New York District Judge Juan Merchan well could exhibit the gawdiest stones imaginable if he follows through with a veiled threat against the 45th POTUS.

You see, the former POTUS just can’t keep his trap shut despite the existence of a gag order that Merchan has imposed on him while he stands trial on allegations that he violated campaign finance laws when he paid off an adult film star.

Merchan has declared the ex-Philanderer in Chief to be in contempt of court and said he might send the criminal defendant to the hoosegow.

Wouldn’t that be rich? Well … yeah, it would be.

First time for everything, yes?

POTUS No. 45 keeps bitching out loud that “this is the first time” a former president has gone to court to face a criminal prosecution.

It’s as if he’s suggesting that the unprecedented nature of the trial is unjust.

Uhhh, no. It’s not unjust, Mr. Former Liar in Chief.

It’s just that this great nation has never been led by someone so inherently corrupt. The law just caught up with the ex-Philanderer in Chief.

He’s on trial in New York City on a 33-count indictment alleging that he spent campaign funds illegally to cover up a tryst he had with an adult film actress. He paid her hush money — get ready for this — to keep quiet about an event he denies ever occurred. 

Go figure that one out, folks.

Yeah, it’s the first time a former POTUS has gone on trial. I get it. I agree, too, that No, 45 has reason to worry.

It damn sure isn’t unjust, as the ex-POTUS seems to suggest.

This dude’s life about to get seriously uncomfy

POTUS 45’s life is about to enter a world in which no man should have to visit …. but he’s got it coming to him.

The former Liar in Chief is going on trial beginning Monday in a New York state court on charges that he spent campaign money illegally by paying $130,000 to an adult film actress to keep her quiet about a one-night stand she alleges occurred between her and the future POTUS.

The former Philanderer in Chief denies it happened, but he paid her the money anyway. Go figure that one, folks.

The tryst allegedly occurred just as the ex-POTUS’s wife was caring for the couple’s then-infant son.

How long will this circus last? Some legal experts say it could be over in three weeks to a month once they seat a jury of the former Moron in Chief’s “peers.”

My favorite aspect of this is that because it’s a criminal trial, the defendant will be forced to sit through it all. He’ll get to watch the former alleged paramour tell jurors of what occurred in the hotel room that night. He’ll have to listen to his former lawyer/fixer/right-hand man tell them how the ex-POTUS ordered him to write the check.

Hey, it’ll be fun to watch.

Let the trial begin … and end

Eight days from now a judge in New York City is going to bang a gavel and call for the beginning of a trial.

It won’t be an ordinary trial. The criminal defendant will be a former president of the United States. He will make history by being the first ex-POTUS ever to stand trial.

The ex-POTUS has three more trials awaiting him once this one concludes. The others are more consequential in terms of the charges leveled against him. First things first, though.

The NYC trial is going to take the former POTUS off the campaign trail for as long as it takes to reach a conclusion. He’ll be in court listening to testimony alleging how he misused campaign funds to pay off an adult film actress to keep quiet about a one-night stand the two of them had, but which the former POTUS said didn’t happen.

Go figure.

The defendant cut a check for the actress totaling 130 grand to shut her up.

This might not be the biggest legal deal facing the former POTUS. Still, it’s pretty damn big. District Attorney Alvin Bragg has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did what has been alleged. It’s a criminal case, after all, so the bar is set high.

I will not shy away from — or apologize for — my hope that DA Bragg delivers the goods to the jury that will decide this matter. I want the former POTUS to be convicted of the crime that has been alleged. I also want him locked up and kept out of public view. He is an existential menace to the nation he seeks to lead once more.

God help us if there are enough stupid Americans out there to put him back into the Oval Office.

In many crucial ways, this is the most important trial in U.S. history. It’s going to make for the highest political drama any of have ever witnessed.

This doesn’t happen every day

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we could conduct a presidential election in which one of the major-party candidates is under criminal indictment.

What’s more, never would I have imagined that the four-times indicted, twice-impeached former POTUS would actually — in the gullible “minds” of followers — be considered a viable candidate to return to the office he once held and disgraced.

To say we live in the craziest era imaginable is to commit a gross (and grotesque) understatement.

Yet here we are.

The Republican Party’s presumed frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination may actually run for the White House while awaiting a sentence after being convicted of trying to overturn the previous election. The conviction might come early in 2024 if prosecutors are able to stave off Donald Trump’s expected efforts to delay the proceeding until after the election.

The feds have indicted Trump on two matters: inciting the 1/6 assault on our government and squirreling away classified documents after leaving the White House. State grand juries have indicted Trump on making an illegal payment to a porn star to keep her quiet about a tryst she said the two of them had and for working to interfere in the Georgia presidential election returns.

He stands accused of committing 91 crimes. Ninety-one of them!

Just think of how stupid the Republican Party faithful can be if they actually nominate this individual next summer.

OK. I have said all that but now I must stand behind my initial reaction to Trump’s latest presidential candidacy. I am going to remain hopeful that the GOP will come to what’s left of its senses and turn to someone else. I say that even though it is less than my initial belief that Trump in no way would ever be nominated. I am not as confident these days in the smarts of the GOP MAGA electorate.

Still, to see this unfit liar in position to lead the party down the path of destruction in 2024 is something I never imagined seeing.

Who knew?

Biden shows needed reticence

Joe Biden is good enough of a politician and a lawyer to understand that when a political foe is being indicted for crimes that it is best to just keep his mouth shut.

It was reporters’ efforts to get the president to comment on Donald Trump’s indictment on multiple counts relating to the hush money payment he made to an adult film star that prompted Biden to declare that he won’t speak about Biden’s legal difficulty.

Why should he speak out? Indeed, no lawyer in America would ever counsel an active politician to weigh in on something such as Trump’s indictment.

You see, President Biden is both. An active pol and a man with a decent legal education.

Moreover, you might be willing to bet your last nickel that the president has instructed every member of the Cabinet, the White House staff and even the foreign service officials on duty to dummy up. Don’t talk to reporters about any of this! Got it? Good!

One of the axioms in politics is that when your adversaries are in trouble, it is best to just let ’em stew in their own sauce. Donald Trump’s difficulties are just beginning.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com