Judge Merchan takes Trump's sentencing date off the calendar while the parties brief Trump's motion to dismiss the case & vacate the conviction. Sad day for the rule of law.
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Understand that the Judge hasn't ruled yet & the DA maintains the conviction is proper. But the delay in sentencing is just another chink in the armor of justice
WHY is the question we would ALL LOVE to hear Joyce, WHY would the Judge discredit the entire system on top of Garland doing nothing in a timely manner. When will we know WHY? What does he have on them? All the intel I bet. Guardrails gone. we're on our own. Leadership is silent.
This is a METEOR, it's STATE charges, a JURY did their job, Who the hell is the Judge to overturn the will of a jury of their peers, so that's all bullshit now too? What that jury had to endure, this is spitting in their faces! How quickly they reveal themselves. Miscarriage of justice
It was pretty Pollyanna of us—I certainly include myself—to think justice would someday be served. America just doesn’t have it in her to abide by the founding principles.
Funny how the sentencing was put aside until after the election for the sake of appearances. Which by default meant, if you win the election you won't be sentenced. "But how would it look to trump and GOP voters?"I don't know. "But how does it look to the Dem candidate and her voters?"
Past tense: DID get away with it. The jury of America acquitted him of the whole shebang because too many people either approved or didn’t care. I still can’t believe it but I have to because I’m looking right at it 😕
Why would I serve for jury duty when the system is so screwed up? Why should I serve and hold anyone accountable? If we are not all equal under the law what is the point?
Yes another chink of many chinks especially when it comes to the man who wears orange makeup. Money & Power is all you need. He's already physically and mentally going downhill so any sentencing in 4 years will be no justice.
The man has been skirting consequences his entire life. Why stop now. If our courts don’t have the will to hold him to account now, it’s not gonna happen ever.
I've heard some people say it's best to delay the sentencing until after his term in office. Otherwise, he'll just pardon himself once he's sworn in. If they delay it, there won't be any way he can block it. What are your thoughts on that?
He won't be able to pardon himself with this NY state conviction but I think waiting until his term ends is a good strategy and will haunt Trump's really bad. He's gonna spend 4 yrs thinking about his sentencing.
I am angry. Angry that all levels of govt just keep giving in when we are in a fight for democracy. I, as a woman of color, am in a bigger fight. It took a black woman and black man in NYS to bring trump to justice. You and all know if trump was a person of color, he'd be in jail.
Heartsick. I feel that I owe a YUGE apology to all my students. The principle of limited government, rule of law, that NO ONE, NOT EVEN the PRESIDENT, is above the law, has been upended by maga. What an inglorious time in our history.
Downfall of the Republic. WE. MUST. FIGHT. BACK. !!!!!!!
It's textbook Trump. Delay, delay, delay. His argument that it should be vacated because he was 'elected president' is ridiculous. We're don't do justice by popular vote. He was convicted by a jury of his peers. He needs to be punished according tto the law.
My childhood friend was the lead prosecutor. I knew she'd eat him for breakfast, and she did. It's infuriating to watch this mook slip out of every single thing.
I agree, but these are extraordinary circumstances. The judge can't just ignore these motions. Whatever he rules will have far-reaching consequences. At this point, it doesn't matter if it is delayed, there is zero chance of him going to prison while he is president-elect or president.
September 1787: “A republic, if you can keep it.” --Benjamin Franklin
November 2024: they couldnt keep it. A vile man appeared. He lied, cheated &stole. But he was able to charm the misguided & misinformed. They followed him, &cheered him, until he became above our laws. /1
All his followers cheered the demise of our once great republic. That meant their beloved vile man had no one to hold him accountable. They felt free. Never had they been so imprisoned. FINISHED
One thing this has taught me is there is only justice for the regular folk if you are rich and powerful jury verdicts mean nothing, the rule of law means nothing, it is a joke on us. You can steal national secrets and get away with it. The US is a shell of itself.
We should all stop pretending. There is no justice. We watched a coup on live TV and in 4 yrs there were no repercussions for him whatsoever to prevent him from taking back the office he tried to steal. The justice system is a complete and utter failure, regardless of anyone’s good intentions.
Merchan should just sentence him and have the sentence start on 20 January 2029. That’ll give Trump something to look forward to when he leaves office.
I mean I can't get over the fact that in the USA, leading Democracy and upholder of the Rule of Law, a convicted felon can be President and not suffer any legal consequences. What are we doing???
Listening to Weissmann & McCord - guessing everything is just paused until he is no longer president, presumably for 4 years. My thought is he won't be pres for 4 years though.
So, what can We, The People do to hold the orange pustule to account? All of us would be in prison long ago. This is WRONG & I don't understand the judge doing this. WHY?
I mean all this stuff is exasperating. But just tell yourself that there are two possibilities: one day he will be out of office and right back in various courtrooms. Or, one day sooner than that he won't be doing ANYTHING. Either is fine.
I don't see any harm in his hearing the motions before ruling on the people's motion to suspend sentencing. Merchan has no basis to set aside the verdict, at least none that have yet been properly brought before him.
The whole point is to delay. Everyone saw this coming yet Merchan wants to take more time to decide. "To know what is the right thing to do and not do it is the greatest cowardice." - Confucius
We have no one to blame but ourselves. Allowing elected representatives to legislate our lives while they slide through theirs only governed by “oaths”, “ethics”, “policies” & “norms” has led us to where we are today. I hate to point fingers, but lawyers did this to us & nothing changed after 2020.
It seems to me that the judiciary in all his cases were cowed by his post-presidency & candidacy status, his $$, his MAGAphone, and fear of his followers. He repeatedly received considerations that none of us would get. I have no faith they will hold the line when he takes office. Hope I'm wrong.
Trump has drained the swamp of our justice system. Until Trump one could pretend that we had an enviable system of Justice. Now we know with proof positive, we don’t.
There is no more "rule of law" in the United States. There is no United States. We are a fascist oligarchy, and the only "rules" are those of the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, and Opus Dei cult (through their willing dupe Trump, then Vance).
And about to enter the Kleptocacy stage of fascism, the Kushner grift of the last admin is nothing compared to what's coming - check out what Desasntis is doing to a State Park so a billionaires golf course can replace it, that's the way of the next admin
No one will ever hold him accountable for his crimes! Too many people willing to look the other way. He was right; “I could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Ave and get away with it!” He was right!! 😢😡
Another spineless judge. Was he threatened and afraid or paid off? I've been a Democrat my whole life but they just have no idea how to fight. It's sickening. Garland was the worst AG ever and should have been fired 6 months after J6. I'm livid about it all!
I hate to think this, ridiculous times, but could we hope that they can bribe him by giving him this huge amt of bias in exchange that he gives up his proj. 2025 plans & oligarchy/ autocracy ideas & firmly behaves himself while in office
It started with Merrick Garland and fell to pieces from there. Abject Failure on multiple fronts. "Without Fear or Favor?" How very antiquated. The DOJ won't even start if its "too tough." There has always been a definite tier system of justice. Banking crash comes to mind.
Rule of law, equal justice, peaceful transfer of power, free and fair elections and the concept that no man is above the law. I don't have confidence in any of these things anymore.
Me to.
A jury found him guilty. There's no new evidence to overturn the verdict. So, of course, it should stand. They should delay sentencing until after he has served his full term. Then, lock him up.
Yet another first. A person, elected president with a felony conviction.
I'm partisan and I'd like to see DJT sentenced to prison and taken into custody at the sentencing hearing. Hell, the party knew this was coming when DJT was nominated, and voters knew this when they voted for him. No one can claim surprise.
You know the drill: A court doesn't want to hear my opinion; it wants to see authority. Is there anyone whose views you take issue with? Coke? Blackstone? Hamilton? Jefferson? "Brutus" (Yeats?)? Bork? Posner?
Weird how all these judges are tough on criminals but only when they punch down. Also enjoy that scheduling orders are mild suggestions for the powerful and strictly construed against the state.
Every judge who has been tested has failed. Failed to process the defendant as any other, to enforce conditions like not threatening witnesses and staff, to hold to any semblance of a schedule for discovery, trial, sentencing, etc.
What does it say to the jury members who committed all that time and endured all that scrutiny to find him unanimously guilty....to only have it dismissed.
No one has dismissed it. That's what the DA is arguing - that the verdict should stand. Why does everyone think this case is dismissed? The DA asked for this and he got it. That's a good thing.
In any event, what good would sentencing him now do? If a sentence is imposed when he is no longer in office, wouldn’t it be more likely to survive an appeal?
Or he could die.
Bytheway, I trusted MSNBC and it’s cast of talking heads to help me do this and my god they failed. I feel complicit for listening. Thank GOD I did my own research for my podcast. I mean I didn’t feel any better but at least I understood.
It's that anyone would think it's OK to be so disrespectful to the jury to submit a motion to dismiss it. That's what I don't get. But then it's par for the course....
Is it possible these judges are getting threatened at this point? I feel like things are falling off cliffs and getting pushed out windows, while the Ruble is free-falling into crypto.
What about Garland not charging him for over two years… Smith filing the classified docs case in Florida rather than DC? Georgia waiting to charge for years. Failures everywhere.
I don't disagree. I think it's just been disheartening to have reached this point. With Musk acting as "Shadow President", it feels like nothing is working like it's supposed to.
It was horrifying that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was right in there with the dirty Republican justices on allowing Trump to run, in spite of what the Constitution says.
Let’s face it Garland is just another corrupt Republican.
He didn’t waste any time appointing SC to investigate Hunter and President Biden and dragged his feet to appoint Jack Smith.
Justice delayed is Justice denied.
I know you'll defend Merrick Garland and DOJ until the day you die (which I hope is a long, long time from now) but at some point you have to accept that his lack of a sense of urgency in these matters played a very big role in our being where we are. He failed the test.
Why do the stars always seem to align in Trump’s favor? I often think about figures like Joe Mc Carthy & Roy Cohen, who eventually faced their reckoning. Will Trump ever experience the same?
Well - there is nothing we can do about this now except hope there are at least 4 Republican Senators that wish that our government operates according to the Constitution, Rule of law and Democracy. That’s a tall order. Very depressing!
The justice system failed miserably. At this point I couldn’t care less what verdicts are issued or cases are left open when the guy is about to re-enter the WH without receiving a single penalty. We watched a coup and let him walk.
If you watched a team of builders work on a house for 4 yrs but there was not to show for it at the end, then none of it mattered, regardless of their good intentions and precision use of tools. The paperwork is just to make the lawyers feel good and keep up the facade of “justice”.
Yeah I get that. After following the Jack Smith cases since November 2022, writing thousands of pages of analysis and recording 100 episodes of a podcast about it, reading hundreds of pages of filings and decisions and rulings and motions: and now it's all gone.
The lack of trust that we have in these people right now is less than zero. Tired of listening to this every second of the day they have the power to stop this s*** and they're letting it ride out.
This is unbelievable. Why is Trump not held to the same standard as we are? Why is he #AboveTheLaw? If he can continuously commit crimes with no real consequence, what message does that send to all of us chumps who follow the law?? I just can't. #TrumpCrimeFamily
I don't know how anyone in the department of justice can ever again take a moral stance that "Just is Blind." That is so clearly not the case. This is about how justice fails when it really matters the most to the most people. Joyce is right - sad day for the rule of law.
If your rich and connected to the Federalists, Heritage Foundation and Putin, you can break any law and not be held accountable. Poor people, the rich will imprison you for being poor, the wrong color, not kissing their ass or just for laughs.
This is just unbelievably depressing. After having lived through the astonishing corruption and ineptitude of his first installment, that we are even here at all just fills me with such sorrow and real cynicism. He should never ever ever have been permitted to be the GOP candidate. Ever.
From now on, any time a legal talking head goes on about “no one is above the law” or “the wheels of justice turn slowly” they deserve to be immediately interrupted and ridiculed
America’s “legal” system is a fraud.
It exists solely as a way to extort money and forced labor from the working class
Trump is a perfect example how rich people who commit crimes clog up the judicial system with their constant delay tactics, while poorer people with no influence wait and often settle the case to their detriment because of delay and legal costs.
Trump is about to become the most powerful person in the world with immunity. Of course a judge would fear the retribution he promised. This is how Putin does it. We just haven't reached the poisoning and falling out of windows yet.
When people said Trump ran for the WH to save himself from his legal troubles. I believe them. Here is the proof. He can also make all his charges disappear. It’s so frustrating that our Justice system works very slow.
I guess it was just an exercise in futility to prosecute trump in any courtroom in America- the American people lost forever of holding him accountable for his betrayal of the Constitution. 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
Meanwhile the pattern of Trump continues... a pattern to all his choices being corrupt, baseness, sexual offenders, TV personalities, billionaires, pro-Russia, cruel, corruptible, misogynists...what I can think of at the moment. And, oh yeah just like him!
He could, but he would need to have political power to do it. He's not Pontius Pilate. The orange menace is not Jesus either but to 1/3 of the country he appears to be.
What p*sses me off is that he campaigned knowing jail time was a possibility. People voted for him knowing he had been convicted and knowing the convictions carried jail time. The bill has come due!
It's far less outrageous than the fact that Garland stalled in assigning special counsel for the Federal indictments. He knew those investigations and trials would take time, he knew their outcomes may have rendered trump ineligible to run again. The people deserved to know before the election.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that Garland was asleep at the wheel. He tried too hard to look non partisan. The midterm primaries are coming in March 2026. We have not yet seen an abrogation of our laws, yet! The ignorant orange man is riding on less than 50 percent of the country! Let’s go!
It wouldn’t have mattered if he got convictions in the trail Trump’s installed court would have overturned it. But the 1,000 other convictions stand as a hallmark to the pyramid of the crime.
Trump is getting exactly what he wanted. It is truly a sad day in America history. Now we’ll have a convicted felon as president. Who would have ever thought we’d in this situation. I never did. Sadly even republican supporters will regret their choice as we will ALL suffer for what’s to come next.
Oh well, this man has skated his entire life. I have to believe the demons in his head torture him every waking moment until he enters the gates of hell. That's my hope anyway.
How would you feel if you’d given up weeks of your life to serve on the jury, been subject to all the threats of violence and hate, just for doing your civic duty, and now watch the justice system take a giant dump on you in return?
Trump played America. He got exactly what he wanted. Zero accountability. A get out of jail free card. A party that not only still backs him but which his family now controls. And presidential immunity.
An inability to enforce laws is a key feature of a nation in "failed state" status.
We may already be living in a post Republic America, it's just that some parts continuing on under their own inertia make it hard to see from the inside. Historians will have to sort out when the nation collapsed.
Disgusting. He planned and conned his way with delays. Everything should have been fast and done. The more they give into this criminal, thevworsebit gets. Truly disgusting.
Abandoning his duty for fear of retaliation is unacceptable. If they clear him they will not get another shot because he can argue double jeopardy. The only way to stop a bully is to stand up to them.
What a disgrace. America has its King. I pray his inauguration day becomes a day of mass protest at the Capital. Let him and his ilk never be granted the respect and authority they claw so cravenly for.
The day the DOJ adopted a POLICY (not a law, not a court ruling) that a sitting POTUS couldn’t be criminally prosecuted, “Equal Justice Under Law” in America officially died. The SCOTUS immunity ruling was just the last nail in the coffin. The POTUS is officially above the law.
He should have been sentenced months ago. It’s just absolutely outrageous that we’d make exceptions so that a convicted felon can be the most powerful person in the world instead of go to prison. Can every felon claim he’s planning a presidential run to delay sentencing?
A very sad day. The entirety of America and indeed the world suffers because of the collective failure of the U.S. legal system to…how to put this appropriately…
It’s a repulsive day for our country - our judicial system has failed us ENTIRELY .. only us plebeians, the common ppl pay the price for justice. Trump now believes he’s invincible.. and it seems he is. What a dark, dystopian path we are on.
All the threats he & his family received, It’s appalling that all that Trump was charged with, and most of it was pretty serious will just go away.
I’ll tell ya right now, any person summoned for jury duty, should ask the judge if it’s a politician being charged and tell them you can’t be impartial.
If he wants to suspend carrying out the sentence if it's custodial I get it but not the other he's not exempt why should he be Given another break vacate no it was lawful
I can’t believe they’re gonna let him get away with everything. Brazil is more democratic than the United States of America right now. What a travesty.
It's been a sad 4 years because there was no desire for any judge to be the first to sentence him. Now we are here. It shows how there really are multiple levels of justice in America.
I see why he would remove the date. Keeping it on the calendar may send an unintended / implied message that he has predetermined the MTD.
I assume they're moving to dismiss based on presidential immunity, but I don't know how that would be applicable to conduct prior to his time in office.
The charges were for crimes committed while he was in office, BUT they were entirely unrelated to any official duties and thus NOT immune. Vacating would be a horrible miscarriage of justice.
Agreed - but I don't fault the Judge for striking the sentencing date while there is a MTD pending. I think that's proper, if only for the optics alone.
Crimes he began before he was elected and continued in his personal capacity while in office. SCOTUS immunity should be irrelevant. Emphasis on "should."
Payments to Cohen/Daniels had begun under false pretenses prior to the election. The conspiracy was well underway prior to assuming office. "Days before the Nov 2016 election - Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pays Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence." https://apnews.com/united-states-government-8f635ec219fc46a68dd44d0ea71ed042
Justice delayed is Justice denied. We all sat here for 2 years and asked why nothing was happening. And every time we asked the question we were told to be patient, it will come. Guess again! Corruption doesn't work that way.
Ok, so if the convictions stand, we wait until his four years are up to be sentenced to jail. I can do that. It will be motivation to get through the coming years.
I wasn't sad. This constant dissing of a trump trial or sentencing or accountability for paying awards to victims just makes me angry. After all the recent unaccountable SC justice rulings, Rule of Law has been drowned like a kitten in a deluge.
To everyone saying it's awful that he's vacated the conviction, he HASN'T. He's only agreed to hear their motion which he has to unless there's legal reason not to. Now if they do dismiss the case, I'll be right here with you complaining but right now Merchan is just following the law.
It certainly is. I thought Merchan would hold to no one is above the law. How often did Garland say no one is above the law?
Justice got played and the American people are duped once again. It doesn’t matter what a jury decides based on evidence and testimony. So what’s the point?
When your democracy is even more flawed than Brazil's, and your GOP plutocrats are about to tank your economy and corrupt your judiciary in order to turn the US into Russia v.2, can your country be described as anything else but a rank sh!thole?
It sends the message trump above the law and Merchan is either a coward or bought off. Never any Accountability 4 this felon. But it’s also ok 4 him to destroy r country
Vacate the conviction? How can this be possible for an American citizen who has been convicted by a jury of his peers? An absolute travesty of justice. SCOTUS has made it possible for this sickening outcome. #SCOTUS
What would you have done The motions were properly filed. Why do you think he should have ruled without first hearing the motions? I don't get your premise in this regard?
Proving that there are two sets of laws in America. One for the rich and powerful, and one for the rest of us. It only prevails because we will not stand united against it....
I just heard this on a news update. This is the new rule of law - they will petition to dismiss and it will probably be granted. We’ve officially entered the autocracy yrs.
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Make him fight it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Anything less is complying in advance.
Downfall of the Republic. WE. MUST. FIGHT. BACK. !!!!!!!
Fuck you judge Merchan, you are a just a coward, not a judge.
I just can't...
November 2024: they couldnt keep it. A vile man appeared. He lied, cheated &stole. But he was able to charm the misguided & misinformed. They followed him, &cheered him, until he became above our laws. /1
Still, this episode has highlighted the need for some reform.
Well, shoot. Parloff & Littman had a slightly more optimistic take.
https://bsky.app/profile/plaintanjane.bsky.social/post/3lbknjf2h6225
Truly sickening 😡
I understand that it might happen but in any normal reality the rest of us live in no one gets away with crimes.
History books need to reflect the danger he is/was.
Justice denied.
That's how dictatorships work
Someone tries to uphold the law, and they send their goons after them
And nothing is done about it
Trying to figure out how this whole "Law and Order" stuff works.
Btw - Do we need to declare ourselves running for President?
A jury found him guilty. There's no new evidence to overturn the verdict. So, of course, it should stand. They should delay sentencing until after he has served his full term. Then, lock him up.
Yet another first. A person, elected president with a felony conviction.
You know the drill: A court doesn't want to hear my opinion; it wants to see authority. Is there anyone whose views you take issue with? Coke? Blackstone? Hamilton? Jefferson? "Brutus" (Yeats?)? Bork? Posner?
Now, we can't even rely on Marbury v. Madison. 👇
Next time, use larger type.
Or he could die.
It’s probably the hardest part right now is knowing what’s true and having the truth in the big picture.
Trump should not have been able to run. He should have been prosecuted and sentenced over a year ago.
BTW, big fan of your work and your podcast. 👍
He didn’t waste any time appointing SC to investigate Hunter and President Biden and dragged his feet to appoint Jack Smith.
Justice delayed is Justice denied.
We the people are the enemy now 😵💫
Exactly what I'm thinking.
No worries, he’ll do a lot more crime in the coming 4 years and be persecuted for if he ever leaves office.
I’ll ask again- how can we insist anyone abide by the law when this is happening
It eviscerates any (remaining) respect for the legal system.
Merrick Garland should be ashamed of himself in how he let this country down and opened the door to this future hellscape.
America’s “legal” system is a fraud.
It exists solely as a way to extort money and forced labor from the working class
everyone should pay attention to that and do wtf they want. overwhelm the courts.
do what trump did
LOL
These are state charges he is not immune ugh
Look, what the SCOTUS lawyer is saying👇🏻
"A central pillar of American democracy is that no man is above the law. But Mr. Trump isn’t an ordinary man."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/opinion/trump-criminal-cases.html
This is not justice, it is a travesty.
We may already be living in a post Republic America, it's just that some parts continuing on under their own inertia make it hard to see from the inside. Historians will have to sort out when the nation collapsed.
it worked.
And we let it.
I can only entertain the land that he’s heading for in the afterlife.
LOCK HIM UP
I’ll tell ya right now, any person summoned for jury duty, should ask the judge if it’s a politician being charged and tell them you can’t be impartial.
I assume they're moving to dismiss based on presidential immunity, but I don't know how that would be applicable to conduct prior to his time in office.
We should try that.
Blame the leaders/projectors/amplifiers pushing and the 35M Americans who are in this political cult (it starts with "Big Lie").
Scary critical mass.
He was already convicted
The part that’s so wrong is that he’s a president with a record. E Jean Carroll too.
The answer is "none of the above."
There's nothing that makes a president (much less a fake, disqualified president-elect) immune to any laws.
*Being in jail* is a "disability" already contemplated by the 25th amendment.
Justice got played and the American people are duped once again. It doesn’t matter what a jury decides based on evidence and testimony. So what’s the point?
If there was any legitimate basis for the indictment to begin with, the judge would proceed.
He'd be at risk of disciplinary action if he didn't
You don't know what the rule of law is
No good answer
Laws are only for the the little people.
The Supreme Court can only interpret COTUS, not rewrite it. You sisters-in-"LAW" can and should do something about it.