Dina’s Docket: Weekly Trump Recap (3/29/24)
Friday, March 29, 2024
Another week, another round of updates in the many ongoing Trump trials. (The nonpartisan nonprofit JUST SECURITY has a fabulous master calendar of key dates in Trump’s trials.)
GEORGIA
Georgia had a live hearing where Trump's lawyers argued that him asking for more votes is protected free speech and not a crime. And I know there will be some reading this who will agree with that, so let me break that down.
Sure, if he's lying to all of you in a political campaign rally, it is protected free speech, unless he's lying about not sexually assaulting somebody, AKA E. Jean Carroll.
And it's true that sometimes if you lie, let's say, to the FBI or on a court witness stand, it is a crime. So, Judge McAfee is not going to rule that it's protected speech as a matter of law. He's going to let it go to a jury to decide as a matter of fact, did Trump make those statements with the intent to commit a crime?
NEW YORK
A new trial date was set for the first ever criminal trial in New York with District Attorney Alvin Bragg for April 15th with jury selection.
On Monday, the appellate court allowed the reduction of the bond in the New York civil fraud trial. Now, he has $175 million he has to put up on bond. Starting on Monday, he’ll have ten days to do that. They didn't give a decision as to why they did this, but to some extent, it makes sense that they tried to make an amount that he can do with cash because the selling of real estate property or bankrupting a company is difficult to unwind, and this is still going to the appeal process and so theoretically, it could get unwound.
BONUS NEWS
Last but not least, in a rare move, John Eastman — the architect of the coup and attorney for Donald Trump — was recommended for disbarment.
Have questions about what’s going on in Trump’s trials? Email me at press@askdinadoll.com or drop a comment below. Make sure to follow me on social media where I post recap videos every Friday along with a ton of other legal news analysis: @askdinadoll
©2024 Dina Doll | All rights reserved.