Judge Rips Credibility of Trump’s Well Paid Expert Witnesses
Judge Rips Credibility of Trump’s Well Paid Expert Witnesses
“For a million or so dollars, some experts will say whatever you want them to say,” Arthur Engoron wrote in a withering three-page ruling.
“For a million or so dollars, some experts will say whatever you want them to say,” Arthur Engoron wrote in a withering three-page ruling.
Donald Trump has suffered a significant setback in his attempts to have the case being brought against him by the New York state attorney general dismissed, after a judge poured scorn on the credibility of accounting experts Eli Bartov and Jason Flemmons.
Judge Arthur Engoron highlighted the potential for bias in their testimonies, given the significant financial compensation they have received. He said that assuming their testimonies were accurate would be a “glaring flaw” in view of these financial incentives.
Judge Engoron was particularly critical of Bartov, a tenured professor, stating that his testimony essentially showed only that some experts might say anything “for a million or so dollars.”
Engoron added, “By doggedly attempting to justify every misstatement, Professor Bartov lost all credibility.”
Part of me actually believes Trump wanted this scathing ruling.
He knew from day one there was never a chance he was going to win this case on the merits, even on appeal. So as usual, his goal is to attack the process. He's been flinging shit at the DA, the judge, the clerk, and anyone even remotely involved with the case to see who bites at it, and the Judge may very well have taken the bait here.
The merits of the case no longer matter to Trump. So he wants the appeal to be all about the process, not the facts. He wants to show that Judge Engoron was "biased from the beginning". He's going to use Engoron's ruling on appeal to say that it's proof that the judge had it in for him from the beginning. He's going to say that Engoron dismissed their testimony by implying they were paid off to commit perjury on the stand with no evidence. He's going to say that subjective opinions cannot be lies. Whatever he can come up with. But the main point is that he's hoping to get his case in front of conservative judges or even up to SCOTUS in hopes that the judges will ignore the merits of the case and instead focus on perceived bias.
At the very least, he's going to use the ruling on the campaign trail to shore up support among his base and drive campaign funding because he knows his base will eat it up and throw their money at him. And as a bonus, he's probably hoping that someone actually follows through with a threat against Engoron and send a message to other judges and jurors, which has already proven to be an effective strategy for him.
He's going to say that Engoron dismissed their testimony by implying they were paid off to commit perjury on the stand with no evidence. He's going to say that subjective opinions cannot be lies.
None of that is appealable. These are findings of fact. Usually a jury would be finding those things, including deciding on the credibility of witnesses. Appeals are for findings of law or abuse of discretion.
FWIW from the outside this is a bit more muddled than usual because his attorneys were too incompetent to request a jury trial. But that's their problem and I doubt an appeals court is going to have trouble separating the two roles the judge has, as the finder of fact and of law.
He wants to stretch it out, become dictator, then pardon himself and send his SS to kill all his enemies, as is custom.
He can say all he wants. People living in reality won't believe it and people not living in reality already believe everything he says without question. We're never going to get the true believers to admit they went all-in on a conman, they are in the cult for life.
He's not appealing to "people living in reality".
He's appealing to Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and his three hand-picked stooges, because that's who this will ultimately end up in front of. His base is there to give him money, and his hand-picked judges are there to give him cover. No other opinions matter to him.
People living in reality
Let's hope they outnumber those who don't.
I think this is why he hasn't seen charges for witness intimidation or perjury and the like. They want to make it as clear as possible that an impartial reading of the law condemns him.
And because I've gotten smacked down more than once for posting such documents "elsewhere," I made my own place to post them, with blackjack, and hookers.
Hahaha holy shit this judge ripped them to shreds. I wish I could copy and paste for the original doc on my phone but there is some gold in there.
This particular doc is a photocopy, and not OCR'ed on the destination.
You may be referring to, in part:
[Eli] Bartov [who was an expert witness for the defendants] is a tenured professor, but all that his testimony proves is that for a million or so dollars, some experts will say whatever you want them to say.
When sites or whatever don't let me copy/paste I just screenshot and use Google translate's image translation thingy to give me a copyable version. Maybe there's an easier way but that usually takes me all of 20 seconds. Hope that helps if you're as technologically unsavvy as I.
Thank you for this.
Today I made and appearance downtown. I am an expert witness, because I say I am. And I said, 'Gentleman....and I use that word loosely...I will testify for you I'm a gun for hire, I'm a saint, I'm a liar Because there are no facts, no truth, just data to be manipulated I can get you any result you like....what's it worth to ya? Because there is no wrong, there is no right And I sleep very well at night No shame, no solution No remorse, no retribution Just people selling t-shirts just opportunity to participate in this pathetic little circus And winning, winning, winning'