N.Y. prosecutor just got 'a heck of a lot' more leverage on Trump in criminal case: expert

N.Y. prosecutor just got 'a heck of a lot' more leverage on Trump in criminal case: expert
Donald Trump, Alvin Bragg (Trump photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP, Bragg photo by Alex Kemp/AFP)

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg just got a huge gift with the potential perjury guilty plea of former Trump Organization chief accountant Allen Weisselberg, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti argued on MSNBC Thursday.

Bragg is prosecuting a criminal business fraud case against the former president, stemming from his alleged concealment of hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

"Your reaction to this news?" asked anchor Katie Phang, herself an attorney. "I guess timing is everything, right? We are waiting for Judge Arthur Engoron to issue his ruling on the remaining counts that were under trial the last few weeks. Do you think that's why we haven't received anything yet from Justice Engoron?"

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"That's a great question," said Mariotti. "I think he's probably taking his time on that opinion because it's an important one. It's very consequential."

"Really, I think, regarding this news, what I would just say is that you have to know that Allen Weisselberg is giving Alvin Bragg and his team a heck of a lot. Realistically, a prosecutor putting a witness up for the prosecution who's pleading guilty to perjury, you know, that's not going to be a very attractive witness."

The between-the-lines takeaway, Mariotti reminded Phang, is that "in order for that witness to be worth the time, they've got to be giving up something really important. That's what I think is really the news here."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Renato Mariotti on Weisselberg perjury plea www.youtube.com

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy bragged that President Donald Trump's rollback of automotive fuel efficiency standards could "bring back the 1970s station wagon."

In a Thursday interview, Duffy told CNBC's Phil LeBeau that ending the Biden-era rules would save major car companies billions.

"The cynic will look at this and say, yes, the automakers will save about $109 billion," LeBeau noted. "And that's fantastic for the automakers. It comes out to about $1,000 per car; theoretically, that should be saved for consumers."

"Do you honestly believe that the auto industry will lower their prices?" he asked.

"Listen, the auto industry is very competitive, right?" Duffy replied. "And by the way, if we bring prices down and we get newer cars on American roads, newer cars are way safer."

"If you're building a car, developing a car that Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg wanted you to build, that's different than market demand," he continued. "This rule will actually allow you to bring back the 1970s station wagon. Maybe a little wood paneling on the side, Phil."

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The GOP could see themselves pull away from Donald Trump ahead of the midterms as Republicans brace for an election blowout.

Some representatives could shy away from tying themselves so closely to the president in the run-up to 2026's election cycle. The New Republic's Amanda Litman suggested the "addled and broken" view of Trump at present will be enough for some Republican reps to distance themselves from the president.

Calling Trump a "politically toxic" candidate who now serves as "a lame duck" to the GOP, Litman suggested those seeking re-election could campaign more on themselves and other values of the Republican party than tying themselves to Trump and the MAGA support base.

She said, "I think they have thoroughly owned themselves going into next year. Now, I also think Trump’s brain is just Jell-O coming out of his ears. He has no idea where he is or what’s happening. That man is so sleepy and so addled and so broken."

"And it’s a bummer, to put it lightly, that his sycophants can’t seem to stand up to him. Although I expect we will start to see more Republicans, both in Congress and across the country, breaking with him as they realize he is both politically toxic and a lame duck."

It may be too little, too late, Litman says, as the "blue wave" expected for next year could already have momentum behind it that would wipe the floor with the GOP. She further added, "To take a bunch of Trump-plus-20 districts and dilute them with formerly Harris-plus-15-type places, you’re going to have to make them a little bit less Republican."

"And in maybe a normal election they’d still be safe, but with a blue wave like we could see happening next year—and, I hope, good candidates who can really inspire voters to show up and make the case, particularly about affordability—I think they are straight-up screwed," the analyst wrote.

Her comments come as Matt Van Epps praised Trump in his Tennessee victory speech. Though Epps would win the election, the swing from Republican to Democrat was notable, with just nine points separating the Republican incumbent and Democrat candidate Aftyn Behn.

Donald Trump was accused of acting like a “12-year-old boy” living in a fantasy land during his second term in a brutal profile from Politico’s Jonathan Martin on Thursday morning.

According to the longtime White House correspondent, the largest difference between the president’s first term and his second go-around in the Oval Office has been his overriding lack of seriousness about his job, with Martin writing, “... he’s turned the office into an adult fantasy camp, a Tom Hanks-in-Big, ice-cream-for-dinner escapade posing as a presidency.”

Pointing to the president’s lackadaisical attempt to help Republicans in the House keep a pivotal seat this week, Martin claimed that Trump couldn’t be bothered because he's having too much fun doing nothing but playing at being president in the White House.

“Why can’t he be bothered to show up in a blood-red House district when base turnout is vital to his party’s majority, which is so threadbare it may not survive this Congress?” he asked before answering, “The answer is that Trump is living his best life in this second and final turn in the White House.”

“The brazen corruption, near-daily vulgarity and handing out pardons like lollipops is impossible to ignore and deserves the scorn of history. How the president is spending much of his time reveals his flippant attitude toward his second term. This is free-range Trump. And the country has never seen such an indulgent head of state,” the journalist wrote before adding, “There’s fun trips, lots of screen time, playing with toys, reliable kids’ menus and cool gifts under the tree — no socks or trapper keepers. Yet, as with all children, there are also outbursts in the middle of restaurants. Or in this case, the Cabinet Room.”

Pointing to Trump’s increasing penchant for leaving the White House to flit around the country to attend sporting events, he noted that “Trump’s cavorting goes well past sports” as he seeks to hang out with celebrities.

“He has no more interest in open government than any pre-adolescent would, but he does like attention,” Martin wrote. “That’s why the cameras are brought in nearly every day, for whatever executive order he is ostensibly there to promote or a foreign leader whose name he can’t always summon. The point is to see himself on TV.”

The Politico columnist pointed out Republicans should expect more out of Trump. "Even the most acute case of arrested development can’t slow age. And the older one gets, the more they reflect their true selves. Trump will be 80 next year. Why would Republicans think he’d grow up now?” he asked.

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