dumb bisque.

Trump’s accounting firm has dumped him and said that the accounts cannot be trusted. He’s going to struggle to find a new accounting firm, plus banks will probably refuse to extend any more loans. Potentially fatal blow for him financially, he will probably end up bankrupt if his existing loans all get called in.

Wrote up a quick item. Bottom line:

"The determination by Mazars that Trump’s financial statements over a full decade are not reliable, through no fault of its own, amounts to a declaration that it has been repeatedly misled by its client."https://t.co/2IW4x2f0XK

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 14, 2022

pic.twitter.com/Xc70YxEe0d

— Jed Thomas (@t_jedrick) February 15, 2022

Saw it on the Beeb, they seem clear they followed proper accounting practice but the info their client gave them was “unreliable”

Just read an article on this accountancy thing. In a month of weasely quotes from politicians and other professional liars this is possibly the worst…

In a letter dated 9 February, Mazars’ general counsel, William Kelly, told the Trump Organization that the annual financial statements it had prepared for the family business between 2011 and 2020 were no longer reliable.

The accountants said they had based their decision partly on their own investigation into Trump’s finances and on the “totality of the circumstances”, concluding that “we are not able to provide any new work product to the Trump Organization”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/15/donald-trump-mazars-accountants-legal-woes

This is one of those moments you wish he was still on Twitter.

On the face of it, this all seems to be moving frustratingly slowly. But is a slow crumbling downfall actually the best outcome here for the sake of the dems and / or democracy in the USA?

If he went to jail tomorrow, he’d be considered a martyr by his fans and some other clown (Rubio, Cruz, or *shudder* MTG) would court his followers who would begin to migrate. By 2024, they’d likely all be united around a single R face.

But by continuing to split the Rs and forcing other figures to nail their colours to the mast and publicly offer support to him, a slow drip-drip takedown could cripple the GOP for 2024. Obviously this is supposed to be about law and not politics, but this is 2022 and everything in the US is political, it seems.

If he went to jail tomorrow, he’d be considered a martyr by his fans and some other clown (Rubio, Cruz, or *shudder* MTG) would court his followers who would begin to migrate. By 2024, they’d likely all be united around a single R face.

The thing with guys like Rubio, Cruz, Hawley, etc. is that they are very smart graduates of elite law schools. They know that Trump is utterly full of shit, but they also know that they cannot get elected without his supporters. If Trump does get convicted, it will make him ineligible to run for office, so all the ambitious Republicans will be secretly hoping he does get convicted. From what I remember of Rubio before Trump came along, he was fairly moderate by Republican Party standards, he was in favour of immigration reform and he wasn’t into all the crazy right-wing stuff. Ted Cruz was always into the crazy stuff publicly, but it’s hard to believe he actually believes it, he’s always been a shameless huckster. So, all those guys would be out there trying to out-Trump each other, which is just as likely to doom them as help them because they also need to appeal to more moderate voters. If they do succeed in winning, they then face the same dilemma on policy – do they appeal to the Trump base and risk alienating moderates or vice-versa. This will be from someone who lacks Trumps instinct for showmanship so it will be hard to pull off.

The thing with guys like Rubio, Cruz, Hawley, etc. is that they are very smart graduates of elite law schools.

But I said Rubio Cruz and MTG 😀

On the face of it, this all seems to be moving frustratingly slowly. But is a slow crumbling downfall actually the best outcome here for the sake of the dems and / or democracy in the USA?

I’m not sure – there is an argument that having the spectre of Trump running in 2024, then his campaign collapsing under the weight of criminal allegations, or even him somehow still being on the ballot in 2024, would be very bad for the Republicans.

But the important thing is the mid-terms – if Trump is still in campaigning mode then, the possibility of Republican gains, and then them having a legislative stranglehold, is a nightmare scenario.

But I said Rubio Cruz and MTG

Did MTG graduate any school? She’s something special that one.

Did MTG graduate any school?

Its America you’re talking about, she probably graduated with cheerleading studies or something similar

thols2
Free Member

Did MTG graduate any school? She’s something special that one.

She has a BA in business administration. You know, the course you do if your parents say “go to university” but you have no idea what to do and no particular talent.

(sorry business admin grads but you know it’s true)

OUCH! One of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's banks is cutting business ties with him a month after citing him as a “reputation risk,” and will close all of his accounts on February 18.

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) February 16, 2022

Is the net beginning to close on the odious orange one and his equally repellant family?
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/594798-judge-rules-trump-children-must-comply-with-ny-ags-subpoena-for

“Ya goin down like BHS”

I had that badge!

So excellently, Trump’s answers to the NY ag, 3 days ago, repeatedly said he “denies knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth”, in response to questions about his and the trump org’s finances. Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know. But then he issued his deranged statement about Mazars, claiming to have the knowledge that he denied in his pleadings, and blowing his own case to bits. Exactly as predicted.

(the Mazar’s statement is absolutely vintage trump, btw, totally worth the read)

She has a BA in business administration. You know, the course you do if your parents say “go to university” but you have no idea what to do and no particular talent.

You bastard!

(sorry business admin grads but you know it’s true)

Aye…..fair point

Be hilarious to see trump in court

Almost on a par with Prince Andrew for guaranteed comedy bullshit

It’s starting to heat up nicely. Can’t wait to see him squirm..

Of the court cases involving Trump that have a result in public attached to them. His record for winning is pretty consistently impressive, of the 1000 or so cases, he’s won something like 450 and lost about 40, mostly the rest are settled – You can call him out for the lie he says when he says “I never settle” as that’s mostly what he does in reality. But his win rate (for hiring the right lawyers) so far has been pretty good.

Whether he can still hire decent lawyers is up for debate though. .

While people like this clearly shouldn’t be let off I can’t really see it amounting to much. None of them care about the law or the truth and should any of them go down which I think is unlikely, the next republican president will do whatever to release them which will be a massive pr benefit for them all round.

BREAKING: The 15 boxes of White House records stored at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence included classified national security information, the national archives says. The agency said it has referred the matter to the Justice Department. https://t.co/fV651RQ99t

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 18, 2022

those boxes will never be seen complete again will they?

I think they went and picked them up a few weeks ago after much too-ing and fro-ing

tj – why not?
Papers that were shredded or torn up have been taped back together so anything and everything which can be recovered/repaired/re-assembled will be.
trump brought his business practices into the WH but his past behaviours were, I’m sure, well known so staff would have been alert to what he may do.

Indeed. The North Vietnamese reconstructed shredded documents found in the US Embassy in Saigon by hand. Now there’s software to do it with quicker from scans.

More good news – but not for trump…
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/18/trump-january-6-lawsuit-00010249

tj – why not?

I would expect those boxes to have incriminating stuff in them which is why he took them and that he would hide / destroy anything he did not want others to see

But his win rate (for hiring the right lawyers) so far has been pretty good.

Yes but if you look at his opponents they were low level contractors and the like. Which isnt meant in a disparaging way but simply they are at best a few rungs above me and so he could afford to tie up as the lawyer costs mounted and if necessary dive into appeal after appeal all the time relying on the if he wins you pay his fees.
He is now going up against people who go “budget? give me a call when we hit several million and I might get concerned”.

Indeed. The North Vietnamese reconstructed shredded documents found in the US Embassy in Saigon by hand.

The famous case was the USA Iranian embassy when the shredding methods used was defeated given several years and a lot of patience. Now though there are various methods which despite darpa offering cash are pretty much irrecoverable. Start by cross shredding vs strip shredding and then beat the crap out of it adding in either water or a chemical agent to mix it to pupl.

dissonance – that’s too complicated for trump.

Revolutions have a nasty habit of eating revolutionaries.

Nom nom…

I would expect those boxes to have incriminating stuff in them which is why he took them and that he would hide / destroy anything he did not want others to see

I think it’s probably the opposite. I think he probably wanted souvenirs that made him look good.

part of the problem with "Truth Social" is that it sounds like the name of a company founded by "Obama digital alums" who help Volkswagen with their "ESG social strategy" https://t.co/ALig92kHyA

— Ben Walsh (@BenDWalsh) February 19, 2022

Behind the news that Mazars have sacked their client is probably a requirement that you can’t testify against someone you represent- so I suspect Trump’s accountants are doing more than just distancing themselves from any fall out.

I wonder whether the Trumpists are seeking to move past Trump. The more the he gets mired the easier it is to look past him to others that are jockeying for posting – stop painting him as a wronged winner and see him as a loser and pin their colours to another mast. I think a lot of the election conspiracy nonsense was Trump’s own dented pride but also his supporter’s denial that they’d backed a loser. They’ve gotten a bit shaky over his vaguely  pro-vax stance and excused him (or excused themselves for supporting him) because he’s old and out of touch, But now they’re starting to think their conspiracy theories was them being victim of a conspiracy. Dialogue is turning from the idea that the 2020 election was rigged so that Trump, rightful winner would lose to one that Clinton rigged the 2016 election so that Trump rightful loser would win – putting him in place so that she could then spy on him for Putin – so Trump and everything he’s gotten wrong and their decision to back a guy who **** everything, up then lost… is all actually Hillary Clinton’s fault.

I would expect those boxes to have incriminating stuff in them which is why he took them and that he would hide / destroy anything he did not want others to see

I doubt it, he probably ordered them to be taken down with that in mind but got distracted pretty quickly after landing at Mar-A-Lago, they were put in storage and forgotton about. For someone so calculated as they seem to think he is, he really does make some pretty dumb desicions that he just tries to talk himself back out of. Everything is pretty much by the seat of his adult nappies and he seems to have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to his plans and nefarious schemes.

However machiavellian that family thinks it is and for every piece of evidence they think they’ve destroyed, I think it will amaze us just how much incriminating evidence they’ve left lying around because their arrogance keeps telling them how genius they are.

Also, remember Capone went down for Tax Evasion

Start by cross shredding vs strip shredding and then beat the crap out of it adding in either water or a chemical agent to mix it to pupl.

Theres definitely a case for ‘This message will self destruct after five seconds’ technology.