Defending innocence: Trump's legal standoff with Letitia James
What’s happened in New York against former President Donald Trump is a blatant violation of the Eighth Amendment, and Mark Levin is going to prove it.
The Eighth Amendment reads: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
In a case from 2019 between Tyson Timbs and the state of Indiana, the standard was set for the United States, as well as the state court, on what it can and cannot do regarding the Eighth Amendment.
Timbs had pleaded guilty in Indiana State Court to dealing in a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit theft.
The response was completely disproportionate to his crimes.
At the time of his arrest, the police seized a Land Rover SUV Timbs had purchased for $42,000 with money he received from an insurance policy when his father died. The Indiana trial court denied the state’s request to turn over his $42,000 car, determining that it would be grossly disproportionate to the gravity of Timb’s offense, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause.
“It was a nine to zero decision, not a single justice agreed with the state prosecutors and the state government, not one. The majority opinion had seven bipartisan justices. There were two concurring opinions, but they all agreed that it violated the Eighth Amendment,” Levin explains.
The Supreme Court ruled that these fines undermine other liberties and can be “used to retaliate against or chill the speech of political enemies.”
“In other words, that case that was brought against Donald Trump should never have been brought. There shouldn’t even have been a sentencing hearing, there shouldn’t have been fines, there shouldn’t have been anything,” Levin remarks.
“This case against Donald Trump is a greater, more grave violation than anything we’ve ever seen under the excessive fines part of the Eighth Amendment, and much worse than the Timbs' case,” he adds.
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Levin: Dems turn a blind eye to Biden's offenses while zeroing in on Trump
If there’s one thing that Mark Levin is sure of, it’s that there’s not a single legitimate charge against Donald Trump.
“He’s attacked by the attorney general of New York, who is a left-wing reprobate and campaigned as a left-wing reprobate, on a fraud statute that doesn’t require fraud,” Levin says. “On a fraud statute that’s never been used before in the history of the state of New York.”
Levin believes those going after Trump are “rewriting laws, twisting laws, making laws, in order to get Trump.”
“None of this is fair and square. None of this is in the precedent of criminal prosecutions. None of this is in the criminal code, state or federal,” he continues.
And what’s happening in Fulton County between Fani Willis and Nathan Wade is no better.
“Meanwhile, defense counsel demonstrated that he had filed several false interrogatories. You file a false interrogatory, you do that under penalty of perjury. That is a crime, not a misdemeanor,” Levin explains.
The attorneys for Wade scrambled by constantly interrupting based on attorney-client privilege claims.
“This is ironic, in a sick way,” Levin says. “They stripped Donald Trump of attorney-client privilege on the January 6 so-called case in Washington, D.C.”
While the focus is all on Trump, the media continues to downplay Biden’s own offenses — which seem to keep getting worse.
“For half a century, Joe Biden violated federal law. The Espionage Act. As a senator, he stole documents,” Levin explains.
“So none of these cases are serious in terms of the law. They’re serious in terms of tying up Donald Trump on time, interfering with the election. Every damn one of them,” he adds.
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Kevin O'Leary leaves CNN host astonished after dismantling New York attorney general's civil case against Trump: 'This is a joke'
Businessman Kevin O'Leary told CNN host Laura Coates on Thursday that "every" real estate developer is guilty of the alleged real-estate fraud that Donald Trump is found to have committed.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is suing Trump, alleging the Trump Organization repeatedly overvalued its properties to lenders while reporting different property values to tax officials. A judge has already ruled that Trump committed fraud. The questions that remain in the case are how much the Trump Organization will be fined and what it means for future business.
Many people believe James pursued the case with political motives, an assessment O'Leary appears to agree with. In fact, he told Coates that every real estate developer everywhere is guilty of what Trump did.
O'Leary explained:
So, if you're a developer and you've got a building on a block anywhere in America and it's worth, let's say, $500 million and you want to build a building right beside it, you go to the bank and say, "This building is worth $500 million. I'd like to borrow a construction finance loan against this asset, and I want you to tell me it's worth 500 million, too." The bank negotiates with you and says, "Well, no, we think it's worth $400 million," and you fight it out.
You're always trying to show your assets in the brightest light with the sunshine you can possibly determine for them. You want them to be worth the very most because you're only going to get a 40% or 50% loan-to-value, as it's called. Then you borrow that money. In the case of a $500 million asset, maybe you get $250 million, and you build a new building with a construction finance loan.
"Forget about Trump: Every single real estate developer everywhere on Earth does this," O'Leary said.
The concern, then, should be who lost money? "Nobody," according to O'Leary, because the Trump Organization paid its bank loans. Thus, if James were to be consistent, she would sue "every real estate developer" in her jurisdiction, he said.
"If you're a real estate developer, you're watching this, you're saying, 'What is this? This is ridiculous!'" he said. "This is, for real estate developers, this is a joke."
The explanation, disarming the substance of James' case against Trump, left Coates shocked.
"It's fascinating to me to hear this perspective because you don't often hear it from that particular angle," she said.
"The first question, is everybody doing it in real estate? Yes, everybody is doing it, not only domestically, all around the world. This is how it works," O'Leary responded.
Closing arguments in the civil case took place on Thursday. James is asking a judge to fine Trump $370 million, but a final ruling is not expected for weeks. Even then, Trump will appeal the ruling.
For his part, O'Leary told Coates he believes the case will not survive an appeal.
'Every real estate developer everywhere does this': Kevin O'Leary reacts to Trump civil fraud case www.youtube.com
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Bill Barr slams New York AG's 'political hit job' against Trump and his children, predicts it will 'end up backfiring'
Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr condemned New York Attorney General Letita James (D) over the civil lawsuit she filed against the Trump family, describing it as a "political hit job."
What about the lawsuit?
On Wednesday, James announced a $250 million lawsuit against former President Donald Trump and his adult children.
The result of a three-year investigation, the lawsuit claims Trump fraudulently mislead investors and tax authorities to inflate the value of his businesses. Trump, James claims, inflated his net worth "to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system."
James claims Trump broke state and federal laws, but she is not criminally prosecuting him. She claims she does not have jurisdiction to pursue charges and has referred the case to federal prosecutors and the IRS.
What did Barr say?
Despite serving in Donald Trump's administration, Barr is no ally of the former president. But on Wednesday, he called out what he believes is a clear example of partisan attacks.
The former AG gave two reasons for his conclusion, first observing that James campaigned on investigating Trump.
"It’s hard for me not to conclude it’s a political hit job," he said on Fox News.
"This is a woman who campaigned for office promising she was going to go after Trump, which I think is a tremendous abuse of office to go head-hunting and targeting individuals. So, I think she was targeting Trump," he said. "This is, after three years, a civil lawsuit, the gist of which is that when the Trump Organization borrowed money, Trump personally guaranteed those loans."
"To support that, she's claiming that he inflated his assets on his financial statements. Now, I’m not even sure she has a good case against Trump himself," Barr explained.
Second, Barr said he is persuaded of partisan motivations because James also targeted Trump's adult children.
"But what ultimately persuades me that this is a political hit job is [James] grossly overreaches when she tries to drag the children into this. Yes, they had roles in the business, but this was his personal financial statement," he explained. "It was prepared by the CFO. Accounting firms were involved in it. The children aren’t going to know the details of that, nor are they expected in the real world to do their own due diligence and have it reviewed independently."
Ultimately, Barr predicted the lawsuit will backfire.
"This, to me, looks like gross overreach, which I think is going to end up backfiring on them because I think it will make people sympathetic for Trump — that this is another example of people piling on because of Trump derangement syndrome, this strong desire to punish him," Barr said.
Importantly, the fact that James filed a civil lawsuit over criminal charges indicates James "doesn't have the evidence to make a criminal case."
"I don't think it's gonna go any further," Barr forecasted.
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