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‘Accountability is here’: Ex-prosecutor predicts conviction after Trump hush money trial
Donald Trump is likely going to be convicted in the hush money cover-up case he's currently facing, but the real punishment is being forced to be a criminal defendant, a former prosecutor said Sunday.
Legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti appeared on MSNBC's Alex Witt Reports, where he was asked about whether or not Trump will be held accountable for any potential wrongdoing.
"Big picture, Renato, do you think some sense of accountability is near for Donald Trump, given everything in his legal sphere that is going on?" the host asked.
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"I personally think some measure of accountability is here for Donald Trump," he responded, noting that the New York trial is likely the only one to take place before the upcoming election. "I do not think he wants to be sitting in a cold courtroom. I do not think he is enjoying this experience. I think he feels humiliated. He is being ordered around by a judge referring to him as Mr. Trump and telling him what to do. I think there is already some measure of accountability."
That being said, however, Mariotti also made a prediction about the case's conclusion.
"Do I think there is likely a conviction here? Yes, I do. Obviously that is not the only piece of this that I think has an impact on Donald trump."
Trump’s legal team just accidentally ‘undercut’ his previous claims in documents case
Donald Trump's legal team has been working overtime to force Special Counsel Jack Smith to make public his prosecution team's evidence against the former president in the criminal documents case, and they just had a victory... sort of.
Recently, Judge Aileen Cannon unsealed several documents in the Florida criminal case, resulting in a trove of new revelations. One of those newly disclosed details was that Walt Nauta, Trump's valet and co-defendant in the case, previously told a grand jury that his boss would throw papers "on the floor" when he "would leave for the evening."
But those filings also showed some information that "undercuts" Trump's claims in the case, according to a report from ABC.
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
"A coat hanger or 'very tiny screwdriver' could be used to unlock the Mar-a-Lago storage room where former President Donald Trump stored highly classified documents for more than a year, according to a witness in Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation," it states. "The account was relayed to FBI agents by an unidentified aide to Trump in January 2023, according to newly released exhibits, and further undercuts claims by Trump that the highly-classified materials he's accused of taking with him after leaving office were secured at all times."
The report further notes the origin of the crucial release.
"The transcript of the interview was released as part of an ongoing effort by Trump and his co-defendants to make additional evidence gathered by Special Counsel Smith public," it reads.
ABC notes that the reported detail "further bolsters concerns raised by Smith about the lack of security surrounding the documents while they were stored in Mar-a-Lago."
"In his indictment of Trump, he included photos showing boxes believed to have contained classified documents in a ballroom at the club as well as a bathroom," it reported.
Nixon lawyer explains what’s keeping him ‘on the edge of his seat’ in hush money case
The general public already knows a lot about the prosecution's case against Donald Trump in the criminal hush money cover-up case, but there's one detail that is keeping former Richard Nixon White House counsel John Dean "on the edge of his seat."
Dean, who recently highlighted a case that he said proves Trump has "no criminal immunity" when it comes to his actions as president, appeared on CNN Newsroom Live on Saturday and was asked about the case involving allegedly falsified records and an adult film star.
Dean noted that tabloid publisher David Pecker "was a good witness" and that it was "an attention-grabbing week for the jury and the public."
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
Dean goes on to say that there are a lot of documents involved in the case, and that we know what many of them are already.
What we "don't know," according to Dean, is "if they have or do not have information or witnesses or documents that directly link Donald Trump to the falsification of the documents or whether that's going to be something that has to be inferred by really overwhelming evidence that there's no other way it could have happened other than from his allowing it to happen."
"That's a thinner case. If they have a direct witness or they have direct evidence, that's going to be a powerful case," he added. "So, this is what's keeping me on the edge of my seat as I watch what unfolds."
‘He looks terrible’: Trump official warns ex-president his next six months will be worse
Donald Trump may be looking bad right now, but the next six months are going to be even worse for him, according to a former official in the ex-president's administration.
Former White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci appeared on MSNBC's Alex Witt Reports on Saturday, where he was asked about how he thinks Trump is handling the grueling schedule that accompanies his criminal trial and presidential campaign. He has previously warned Trump about a financial "avalanche" that is going to hit him.
On MSNBC Saturday, the host asked Scaramucci about how Trump, who is used to drinking "up to a dozen" Diet Cokes per day, is doing.
ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why Trump’s Manhattan trial is the biggest threat to his freedom
"I mean, this guy is eight years older than he was when you were spending that kind of time with him," the host added.
Scaramucci replied, "You know, he looks terrible."
"I mean, who is kidding who? The question, though, is what is going to be the aftermath of this? ... he probably doesn't go to jail. Let's say the worst thing happens to him, he will probably be confined. I don't think they would put a former president in jail, he'd probably end up with an embarrassing ankle bracelet and will have to campaign over Zoom for a period of time. But, it is embarrassing."
Scaramucci went on to say the "real question" is, "How is this man still standing for president? And what does it say about you if you are supporting Mr. Trump at this moment in U.S. history?"
"I would really caution people about all of this. I think the next six months for Mr. Trump are going to be worse for him than the prior six months."
‘Increasingly goofy’: Analyst hits Fox News’ for efforts to spin Trump trial
As Donald Trump's first criminal trial got underway, proceedings received extensive coverage in the media.
But over at Fox News, the story is not the center of the news world — and the network's focus was more centered around Trump's grievances over the trial, which accuses him of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment made to adult movie star Stormy Daniels.
According to The Daily Beast's Justin Baragona, "The rest of the cable news landscape has devoted round-the-clock coverage to the trial," but Fox has "mostly dipped in and out."
"Spending the bulk of its time on the pro-Palestinian protests at Ivy League schools, Fox News has centered a large portion of its Trump trial coverage on criticizing the case and the court’s treatment of the former president," Baragona wrote.
Baragona contends that Fox's approach to coverage of Trump's trial is causing its hosts and guests to take "increasingly goofy and zany positions" in order to defend Trump, and he cites a number of examples, including from The Five host Jesse Watters.
Also read: 'Perma-scowl': Observers say Trump is not doing well at hiding frustration from jurors
“The guy needs exercise. He’s usually golfing. And so, you’re going to put a man who’s almost 80, sitting in a room like this on his butt for all that time? It's not healthy,” Watters said during a segment this Monday.
“You know how big of a health nut I am. He needs sunlight and he needs activity. He needs to be walking around, he needs action. It’s really cruel and unusual punishment to make a man do that. And any time he moves, they threaten to throw him in prison!”
Baragona then points to the roundtable show Outnumbered, where GOP operative and regular Fox News guest Ian Prior compared Trump being criminally tried to the fall of Rome.
“The very problem that we have here is we are weaponizing the justice system to go after former presidents. You back up 2,000 years and this is the kind of thing they would do in the Roman Republic that led to the end of the Roman Republic,” Prior said. “Caesar is out there and says if you do not come back to Rome…and face prosecution, what did he do? He crossed the Rubicon and there’s the end of the Republic.”
Then there's Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt, whose take on the matter didn't make much sense to Baragona, and he asked his readers to decide what the following commentary means.
“Does this set a precedent for other people who want to run for president?” Earhardt sighed. “What if they've done something like this in the past and they can say, 'Oh, well, they told me in the 8th grade they want to run for president, so since they paid off a girl when they were 30 years old, then that was election interference!'”
But the craziest take, according to Baragona, came from former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
“I am deeply worried that tomorrow, a totally corrupt judge and a totally corrupt district attorney are going to try to put a former president of the United States, candidate of his party, and front-runner in the polls in jail. Now, I think this is so horrendous that there has to be some way to reach out to the Supreme Court,” Gingrich said on Monday night’s Hannity.
“This is literally like some of the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the 1960s. The New York system is now so deeply corrupted and it's so bitterly, deeply anti-Trump.”
Read more at The Daily Beast.
‘Maggot Hagerman!’ Trump rages at NYT reporter who says supporters are skipping his trial
Former President Donald Trump has a new demeaning nickname for Maggie Haberman, the New York Times reporter who revealed unflattering details about his criminal trial behavior and challenged his excuses for a lack of protesters outside.
The former president laid out his new insults Tuesday in a lengthy Truth Social rant in which he also argued his supporters had been blocked by police from gathering outside the Manhattan court house where his hush money trial is unfolding.
"Thousands of people were turned away from the Courthouse in Lower Manhattan by steel stanchions and police, literally blocks from the tiny side door from where I enter and leave," Trump wrote. "It is an armed camp to keep people away."
This is a repeat of an earlier claim debunked by reporters at the scene who say it is blatantly false.
ALSO READ: ‘Fraudulent’: Trump tormentor Lincoln Project loses big money in cybertheft scheme
"Maggot Hagerman of The Failing New York Times, falsely reported that I was disappointed with the crowds," Trump declared. "No, I’m disappointed with Maggot, and her lack of writing skill, and that some of these many police aren’t being sent to Columbia and NYU to keep the schools open and the students safe. The Legal Scholars call the case a Scam that should never have been brought. I call it Election Interference and a personal hit job by a conflicted and corrupt Judge who shouldn’t be allowed to preside over this Political Hoax. New York Justice is being reduced to ashes, and the World is breathlessly watching. Hopefully, Appellate Courts can save it, and all of the companies that are fleeing to other jurisdictions. They can no longer take a chance on New York Justice!"
Haberman, who has been covering Trump for years, long enjoyed close access to him while he was in the White House, even posing with him for a smiling photo. But Trump's attitude toward Haberman has soured as she has covered his behavior in the courtroom, including his embarrassing inability to stay awake.
Trump's other claim in the post, that huge crowds of his supporters turned up to rally for him in Manhattan and were turned away by police, also appears not to be true, as NBC News' Vaughn Hillyard posted video footage of the streets around the courthouse open to traffic, and barely anyone demonstrating in support of the former president.
Haberman herself has also debunked the idea that local streets were closed off during the trial, a point that has further enraged Trump.
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Trump turns housing agency into another weapon in his immigration crackdown
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has dramatically expanded its immigration enforcement activities, auditing thousands of housing applicants and proposing new rules that would force mixed-status families to choose between separating from undocumented relatives or losing rental assistance entirely.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner has instructed public housing authorities to verify immigration status for approximately 200,000 people receiving federal housing benefits, reported the Washington Post. The department is also sharing data with the Department of Homeland Security and has proposed a rule blocking mixed-status households — families containing both documented and undocumented members — from accessing housing programs altogether.
The policy would devastate eligible families. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that nearly 80,000 people would lose housing assistance under the proposed rule, including 52,600 eligible citizens and 35,400 citizen children. Housing officials report that for every ineligible person removed from programs, approximately three eligible people lose assistance.
Public housing authorities have raised significant concerns about the implementation. HUD provided 3,000 housing agencies with lists of flagged tenants and demanded corrections within 30 days — a timeframe housing officials characterize as impossible. After investigation, local officials discovered the vast majority of flagged individuals were flagged in error due to data synchronization problems, duplicate entries, or administrative mistakes like missing initials or transposed Social Security numbers.
Mark Thiele, chief executive of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, criticized the shift in mission.
“Putting that responsibility on them shifts immigration enforcement away from the agencies that are meant to handle it and actually puts eligible families at risk of losing their housing assistance,” Thiele said. “Housing agencies should focus on what they do best: providing homes for their communities. They should not be asked to act as immigration enforcers on top of that.”
Turner defended the policy as necessary to protect taxpayer funds and ensure benefits reach U.S. citizens. "Under President Trump's leadership, the days of illegal aliens, ineligibles, and fraudsters gaming the system and riding the coattails of American taxpayers are over," he stated.
Housing experts argue the policy won't address underlying housing shortages or lower costs. Of 4.4 million HUD-assisted households, only approximately 20,000 are mixed-status. The proposed changes represent part of a broader administration effort to use federal agencies for immigration enforcement, including similar initiatives at the Education Department, IRS, and banking sector.
