Just hours after a New York grand jury handed down a 34-count indictment against Donald Trump, Ol’ Diaper Don was seen at Mar-a-Lago. There’s a TMZ video of Trump giving a thumbs up to supporters before he went into dinner. Apparently, he and Melania had dinner together. Wow, I bet Melania was acting her ass off, trying to suppress her smiles and laughs. Thankfully, Maggie Haberman at the NY Times has a piece about how Diaper Don handled the news of the indictment. As it turns out, he was a lot like the rest of us – he thought that the grand jury probably wouldn’t indict him until late April too.
At Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, former President Donald J. Trump was still absorbing the news of his indictment, according to several people close to him. Mr. Trump and his aides were caught off guard by the timing, believing that any action by the grand jury was still weeks away and might not occur at all. Some advisers had become confident that there would be no movement until the end of April at the earliest and were looking at the political implications for Mr. Trump’s closest potential rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
At Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate, Mr. Trump’s mood has ranged in recent weeks from optimism and bravado to anxiety about his future. On Thursday evening, after the grand jury indicted him, Mr. Trump was angry but mainly focused on the political implications of the charges, not the legal consequences, according to people familiar with his thinking.
He seemed eager to project confidence and calm and was seen having a very public dinner with his wife, Melania, and her parents at the club at Mar-a-Lago.
He has been keeping a relatively normal schedule at Mar-a-Lago, which he calls “my beautiful home” — dining with guests, playing golf and telling nearly anyone that he was in a good mood and that he believed the case against him by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, had fallen apart. At times Mr. Trump has appeared significantly disconnected from the severity of his potential legal woes, according to people who have spent time with him in recent days.
He was also trying to tamp down his own behavior, after he posted to his social media site a news article with an image of Mr. Bragg on one side and Mr. Trump holding a baseball bat on the other. Mr. Trump’s lawyers were alarmed that he was doing himself damage. He did not repeat the act.
Haberman also reports that Trump was particularly disturbed when Allen Weisselberg, his longtime business associate, was charged with various crimes. I would argue that Trump was disturbed because he knew that the walls were closing in – if they got Weisselberg, they would get him. Anyway, yes, Trump has been threatening violence and raging at people, and then he’ll aim for delusional optimism when he sees tourists and supporters around Mar-a-Lago.
This morning, Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina told NBC News that Trump will surrender voluntarily to New York authorities but Trump will not seek, negotiate or accept a plea deal. Tacopina says Trump wants to go to trial. Likely story.
So far, Hillary Clinton and President Biden have not said anything on the record. Biden was just speaking a pool of reporters and he no-comment’d them when asked about Trump. I’m dying for Hillary to say something iconic. Obama hasn’t said anything either.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
-
- United States President Donald J. Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC after returning aboard Marine One, Thursday, December 31, 2020. They cut short their Florida vacation to return to the Capital.,Image: 579989991, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Ken Cedeno – Pool via CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
-
- U.S. President Donald Trump walks to speak to members of the media next to U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, right, before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021.,Image: 584875703, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Al Drago – Pool via CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
-
- Washington, DC – President Donald J Trump leaves the White House on his way to Japan where he will attend the G-20 Summit. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 26 JUNE 2019 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Circleville, OH – President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks during a MAGA Rally at the Pickaway County Fairgrounds Saturday, October 24, 2020 in Circleville, Ohio. The President’s visit comes just 10 days left before the general election. Pictured: President Trump BACKGRID USA 24 OCTOBER 2020 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump speaks to the media accompanied by the First Lady, Melania Trump, before boarding the Marine One helicopter for the state of Florida. In Washington D.C., United States, January 20, 2021. Trump left Washington four hours before Joe Biden’s inauguration as the country’s new president, thus not attending his successor’s inauguration ceremony, and did so leaving Americans more politically divided than when he arrived. Pictured: United States President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump BACKGRID USA 20 JANUARY 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: Lagencia Grosby / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- West Palm Beach, FL – President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on January 20, 2021 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Pictured: President Donald Trump, Melania Trump BACKGRID USA 20 JANUARY 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
The Donald is always angry, isn’t he?
I swear if he somehow actually does jail time, it will be a miracle.
He has weaseled out of all his criminal activities.
I wish him nothing but Karma to kick his butt at 110%.
I say we all buy teeshirts with the words: “I don’t really care” on the front and Trump’s profile on the back. Melania always was fashion forward.
But that would require wearing his face. 🤮🤮🤮
But have Donald in an orange jumper looking out from behind bars!!! That I would wear!!!
Dr. Yusef Salaam’s tweet was iconic.
‘For those asking about my statement on the indictment of Donald Trump – who never said sorry for calling for my execution – here it is:
Karma ‘
Meanwhile, I wish they could have indicted Drumpf and arrested him two minutes later when he wasn’t expecting it. Not how the system works, but would have saved massive amounts of trouble to come.
Yes, the only thing better would have been the entire Central Park 5 taking out a full page ad in the NYT.
If anyone doesn’t know, in 1989 Trump reacted to a brutal NYC rape with a full page ad asking for the death penalty for the 5 POC suspects, who were innocent. He’s been showing us his @ss his whole life.
34 counts. THIRTY FOUR.
A while ago some government agent was quoted saying “he will die in jail”. I think they may be right.
I hope he is angry and scared. He has done so much harm to the world.
I’ve said before on here that he will die in jail. He’s very similar to Alex Murdaugh in that once you start looking at one criminal act, you discover more. There are just so many crimes in so many jurisdictions (he’ll be indicted in Georgia, too). And I’m positive there have been ongoing crimes in trying to conceal evidence in the course of the investigations.
It was impossible to imprison mob bosses once–until it wasn’t.
my understanding is that he would likely be placed under house arrest for any sentence he is given, in part due to his secret service. It will be interesting to see what the justice system does to a former president with felony convictions and if the jury is able to be free to come to their own conclusions without threats of violence to them and their families.
Donald will never be sent to jail. It would be impossible. At most, he will get sentenced to imprisonment at one of his homes. (Hope they make him stay at just one and not transfer season to season). I would think it should be Trump Tower as with his golf properties there is too much interaction with the public.
I hope they can find a way to strip him of his golf properties. Broke would be a harsher punishment for the Orange S#!tgibbon. Broke and isolated.
honestly, I think one of the reasons he wants a trial is because it would be a huge spectacle with him center stage and because he expects there are enough MAGA folks for a jury that would result in hung jury/jury nullification
I hope it’s not true he’d only be under house arrest! He should be isolated from the rest of the prisoners, perhaps solitary confinement would be the safest 🙂
Now let’s watch privilege in action as the law and order process plays out. Not just the fact that he will be treated like a former president, but most importantly that he will be treated like a white man. A wealthy one to boot. Keep an eye out.
💯🎯
I’m curious about this. We live in more transparent times and part of trump’s role seems to have been giving everyone an inside peek into how the wastrel sons of these “leading” families are supported in failing up until they’re at the top (and running the damn country).
Trump is a former president who was terrible at his job – every job he’s had. He’s a white man who has chosen to be orange for years. He’s a clown. He’s nowhere near as rich as he’s been pretending to be. All of the rich white folks/families whose own centuries and decades long grifts may come to light because we’re looking at trump will have an interest in him going down so it looks like a him problem and not the foundational fabric of white supremacy’s success in this nation for the last 200+ years.
“The club at Mar-a-Lago” sounds like a seventies fantasy horror flick. If you’re at this club you have sold your soul.
Right? Can almost smell it. 🤮🤮🤮
“American Horror Story: Mar-A-Lago” would totally work. Basically a mashup of “The White Lotus,” “Succession,” and “The Walking Dead.”
Someone ought to turn Squeeze Me (Carl Hiaasen) into a movie. It’s already set there.
Yeah, Hillary won’t say anything directly. If asked, she will comment on the rule of law and the need for due process. And both she and Biden know Dems have to approach this cautiously to avoid the appearance that this is just politics. It’s probably small comfort to both of them that Trump may finally be held accountable for his crimes because he was able to serve as president for four years and do incredible damage to the nation they both love.
As for Trump being caught off guard, we all were. That’s why Bragg led everyone to believe nothing was imminent. Boss move.
Good!
Maybe I’m imagining things but, is Meliania suppressing a giggle.
@ Dss, I image she is giddy as hell!! She was hoping to out live him, which she will, but now she won’t have to look at his ugly mug anymore or pretend that she is his doting and loving wife. She is simply waiting for her pay day and it came sooner rather than later!! Cha-ching!!! She has hit the jackpot! Hope she buries him at the NJ golf club too!!
Again, Take-A-💩 is pissed off because: He DIDN’T THINK THAT HE WOULD GET CAUGHT–for anything! Even though it was discussed in detail on numerous news outlets that these charges weren’t as serious as the 2020 election frauds and his strong participation spearheading 1/6/21, he DELUSIONALLY feels/”thinks” that he will not be convicted for any crime he commits and that exonerations are in order for him. IMPHO, he is the MAIN person (next to his idol A.H.) who feels that he can continue to do whatever he wants to do at the expense of other people and not suffer the consequences nor be held accountable for his actions!
I’m impressed the DA pulled it off like this. Yesterday and the day before were headlines about the grand jury breaking for a month, then boom!
I hope it’s ok I like to a Twitter thread that really spells out the possible fraud, tax, money laundering and international crimes they probably have him and Wesselberg dead to rights on. https://mobile.twitter.com/tomiahonen/status/1641309863392444417
(Check tomiahonen’s Twitter for the thread if it doesn’t work, I’m not confident I’ve linked correctly).
Also, the fact that prosecutors have all the fake and real books because Donald tossed Cohen under the bus so fast (the books were found when Cohen’s office was searched) will always make me happy.
Thanks for that link, Lucy. We’ll have to see what can actually be proved in court, and whether Weisselberg will actually flip. Alvin Bragg & co. seem smart, so I’m hoping they have a lot of evidence that will stand up in court.
@ Lucy, thanks for the link!! His graphics are a thing of beauty too!! I am loving how all of his carefully placed crimes are seeing the light!! Now that they are investigating Weisselbergs son, he will save his son before he saves Drumpf……
They all deserve to be imprisoned!!! Every last one of them, that includes the Drumpf children as well!!
Latest news is that Weisselberg s attorneys (ones paid by Trump) were removed and replaced with OTHER attorneys paid by Trump. (It was felt the original ones were too cozy with the prosecution. Had not heard about them investigating his son. (I thought that was off a limits from his agreement.) That might change things, if true. Sure do wish this weasel would turn and bite Trump’s ass.
@Lucy: thank you for linking this! It brings me such hope!
“Mr. Trump and his aides were caught off guard by the timing,” why? Because they were believing their own hype? The only person saying he would be arrested and then saying there would be no charges was Donald himself. We still don’t know the exact charges or the scope of the charges, mayhe he doesn’t either. Now I eagerly await the results of the Fulton County GA special grand jury. Someone should take out a full page ad in the New York Times demanding his execution, as he did with the [since-exonerated] Central Park Five, and let him see how that must have felt.
Question: If I understood correctly, he could run for president from prison, what would happen, if he gets electeted? Would he be released for his term as president? Could he pardon himself?
I know its unlikely, but after he won once, i will never say impossible again.
Yes, he can run for president from prison (google “Eugene Debs”). He wouldn’t be able to go to his Nazi rallies in person, but he can still be a candidate. I can’t say for sure about the presidential pardon- he definitely will pardon himself if he can, but from my understanding, POTUS can not pardon people for state crimes (and the way Georgia is set up, the governor of Georgia can not even pardon people for Georgia state crimes, it has to be some kind of committee approval). I have questions about Secret Service protection in jail, but realistically, he will never serve a day behind actual bars. If (when!) he is convicted he will be sentenced to home confinement. probably Maralago, maybe with some type of gag order.
They could keep him in a trailer home on prison property surrounded by razor wire!
CNN is reporting that the grand jury heard from one more witness yesterday before issuing the indictment. The identity of the witness is still unknown. Wonder if it was Weiselberg. 👀
Or maybe Ivanka?
Yeah, Weiselberg sounds likely.
This is all well and good but I don’t think anything will happen. If it’s just to do with the Stormy thing, it wasn’t enough money to really make an impact. It would be a reach to think he’s going to jail for that. I hope there is something else in the indictments with a little more meat and that they have rock solid witnesses and evidence. Otherwise he’s not going anywhere and this will all be a waste of time.
34 counts says it’s more than ‘just the Stormy thing’.
Max Fisher compares it to the prosecution of South Africa’s Jacob Zuma in that the indictments may not feel so major but the sheer number of alleged crimes is so overwhelming and that could very likely move a jury to find him guilty of something. Who knows, but that makes sense to me.
Geez, would he actually ever serve jail time? I assumed either suspended sentence or house arrest type situation.
Why can’t he serve jail time. The secret service are just supposed to protect his person. Not where he is at. He could have his own cell, and the secret service could watch him while he was out in the yard. Plus if Georgia actualy tries him for that I still think that would fall under treason. Which should lose him his secret service detail.
I cannot wait for this decades long crime spree to be an episode of American Greed! I love the narrator on that show.
i think I may buy an orange jumpsuit for trial! 🩳👘
Wonder if the police will take his advice about roughing up suspects as they take this walking talking crime wave slash sack of garbage in? 🤔 Probably not.
As for jail with secret service detail he will be on house arrest but he’ll be broke after the IRS start seizing assets. That’s enough for me! Let him die broke a convicted felon.
Now i just need Melania and Ivanka/Jared to get their overdue karma.
DeSantis is not winning because if I know Trump he is burning it to the ground if he goes down. He will blame DeSantis. They hate each other.
Also I love the meme of Trump Jr. reading “The Night Dad Went to Jail” 😂
I see he’s with Fake Melania in the header picture: Clues: She’s much shorter than him; she’s not wearing something body-hugging to emphasize her great figure; she actually HOLDING HIS HAND (in real life, this is something she won’t do). Disclaimer: I am not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but with the odd, the unnatural, the supernatural in life, then sometimes one has to take that dip (or flight) since we are out of the range of normal life experience.
I want Hillary to say something too! But I’m betting that attempts to paint this as politically motivated will keep most Dems silent.
he’s hanging himself with his own rope as long as he has a platform, so I honestly think staying silent is a good policy
Yes, you’re right.
The same crook who grifted millions from his dimwitted followers by lying that he would be indicted two Tuesdays ago was caught off guard? Puh-leeze.
I don’t drink much because alcohol can trigger my migraines, but my husband and I popped a bottle of sparkling wine last night, toasted, and drank merrily. And the universe –also undoubtedly pro-justice—did not give me a migraine!! 🥂
I don’t picture Melania being happy about this so much as irritated. I get the feeling she likes her life the way it is, and the chaos monkey she’s married to sometimes doesn’t oblige her.
Agreed that she likes her life the way it is. She gets to be rich and do whatever she wants, but his shenanigans get in the way of that. Like he’s a nuisance to her more than anything.
This man was a criminal before he ran for president. Anyone who lived in NJ or NYC knew that. All the promises when he was running for office were a bunch of bull. He cares only for himself and will throw you under the bus in a minute. He’s a sleeze ball. All the people who think he’s the greatest are brain dead.
I am surprised that the entire Republican party is not done away with. Probably most people would be afraid to vote for any Republican at any time for fear of some kind of repercussions. I have never voted and never will. Too much name calling and insults back and forth. What a change from the elections when more respect was shown toward one another years ago.