The Great Pussy Grabber rides again

    I posted this on Facebook today, May 10, 2023, and it got a couple of nibbles.

Sloan Bashinsky

From today's NY Times:

In the civil case, the federal jury of six men and three women found that Ms. Carroll, 79, a former magazine writer, had sufficiently proved that Mr. Trump sexually abused her nearly 30 years ago in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. The jury did not, however, find he had raped her, as she had long claimed.

As an Alabama lawyer, I have some views. 

1. 6 men sided with the plaintiff. In olden times, that would not have happened in Alabama, in a case where the woman waited for a very long time to make a public accusation. So, that all 6 men on the jury sided with the plaintiff is, well, remarkable. Perhaps, well, a miracle? However, maybe the men jurors persuaded the female jurors to give Trump a pass on the rape allegation, and convict him on the lesser sexual assault/abuse charge and the defamation charge. And, I wonder if a federal appeals court panel might scratch their heads a bit over giving Trump a pass on the rape charge, when the plaintiff testified she was raped by Trump.

2. Trump did not attend the trial and face his accuser and testify on his own behalf. In a civil lawsuit, if a defendant does not take the stand, the jury can view that as an admission of guilt. Trump's lawyers knew that, and I suppose that's why they entered Trump's deposition into the record, hoping the jury would be happy with that, while Trump was in Ireland playing golf on one of his golf courses, lamenting the far and away front runner Republican candidate was having to deal with a fake lawsuit brought by a lying woman he never met. Yet, there is no way Trump's lawyers could erase Trump having publicly bragged, because he was a celebrity, he was able to kiss women and grab them by their pussy, and get away with it. And, I can imagine that is what convinced the 6 men to vote to convict Trump for sexual abuse/assault, and I can imagine that's not going to be forgotten by a federal appeals court panel.

3. What opened the door to the lawsuit was the plaintiff had stated in a book that Trump had raped her. Trump publicly tore into her, called her a liar and other bad things, and that opened the door for her suing him for rape and willful defamation - but she would have to prove he raped her, to prove he defamed her. During the lawsuit, Trump kept calling the plaintiff a liar and other bad things, and now that the jury sided with the plaintiff, she can sue him again for defamation that occurred after she sued him. I can't imagine Trump's lawyers did not warn him about that, and he ignored them. 

4. Trump said he will appeal, which is his right. If he appeals and wins, then that's the end of all of it. If he appeals and loses, then I can imagine the plaintiff will sue him again for defamation.

Ky

Can he appeal if he didn't show up for the trial? On what grounds? 

 

Sloan Bashinsky

Yes, Trump can appeal. He is not required to take the witness stand. As for what grounds he might appeal, his lawyers might attack the trial judge as being biased? His lawyers might say there was too much pre-trial publicity, Trump couldn't get a fair trial? Who caused the pre-trial publicity?

However, I think the law in NY federal court is the same as the law in Alabama federal and state courts, where I practiced law after clerking for a federal judge in Birmingham. 

Simply stated, an appellate court will not overturn what the finder of fact decided, in this case, what the jury decided, unless there simply were no facts in evidence to support the jury's decision. 

A childhood buddy, who is not a lawyer, told me this morning that the lawyer who represented Trump in the case won't be paid. I said, if the lawyer didn't get paid in full up front, like, $2,000,000 wired into his law firm's bank account, he is an idiot.

Tonight's CNN Town Hall Meeting at 7:00 p.m. Central Time might shed further light, if Trump shows up? If he shows up, will he play by the rules, or will he do what he did during the first Trump-Biden debate in 2020, and talk over everybody despite repeatedly being told to shut up? Consider the irony of CNN hosting what Trump probably originally imagined would be a MAGA rally.

Ky

Sloan, I'm thinking he won't answer direct questions form CNN and scream "biased". As far as publicity, he created it. 

 

Sloan Bashinsky

Yep. Maybe he will get so worked up that he explodes, literally. Then, the MAGAs will blame CNN. This would be a fabulous Reality TV series, if it wasn't real. Maybe call it, "The Great Pussy Grabber Rides Again"? Meanwhile, somebody ought to give him this hurt feelings report to file where the sun never shines. I wonder if Trump and MAGAs and Republicans would be shocked to learn I am not a Democrat? I am a human being .

 

 

Sloan Bashinsky

A Birmingham native, who is a Trumper and says he is a Christian, read the above and sent me a FB chat private message:

JW

After listening to hear Carroll's interview on Today, I think she may have opened the door for any prominent men to be charged years after fact. It doesn't necessarily mean conviction but it does mean lawyer fees for defense. Undoubtedly an opportunity for lawyers. verbum sapienti satis est: "don't dip wick, indiscriminately.

I repiled to JW on FB chat:

Why'd you put your response in a private massage where no one could see my response?

How many prominent men publicly boasted about being a celebrity and because of that they got away with kissing women and grabbing their pussies? 

How many prominent men would go to Ireland to play golf, instead of being at the trial to testify? 

How many prominent men would ignore their lawyers and keep saying defaming things about the woman who had sued him, giving her grounds to sue him again if she won her lawsuit against him? 

I don't know what happened to you that causes you think and speak like you do, but I think it is not becoming of a grown man, nor of a Christian, but then, I think Christians who back Trump would back him no matter what he did or said. Even if they knew he was the Devil, they would back him.

Joseph 
After listening to Carroll's interview on Today, I think she may have opened the door for any prominent men to be charged years after fact. It doesn't necessarily mean conviction but it does mean lawyer fees for defense. Undoubtedly an opportunity for lawyers. verbum sapienti satis est: "don't dip wick, indiscriminately."

Me

Why'd you put your response in a private massage where no one could see my response? How many prominent men publicly boasted about being a celebrity and because of that he got away with kissing women and grabbing their pussies? How many prominent men would go to Ireland to play golf, instead of being at the trial to testify? How many prominent men would ignore their lawyers and keep saying defaming things about the woman who had sued him, giving her grounds to sue him again if she won her lawsuit against him? I don't know what happened to you that causes you to think and speak like you do, but I think it is not becoming of a grown man, nor of a Christian. But then, I think Christians who back Trump would back him no matter what he did or said. Even if they knew he was the Devil, they would back him.

Joseph

I have a thumbs up on you article in FB I liked your legal points. But I think this kind of lawsuit may begin to be used going forward elseewhere. But considering the fact you want to berate me in private or public all the time why should I reply to you publicly you seem to have the desire to be irascible to anyone. You need more psychological help . Hope you get it.

Sloan

I have a long history of responding publicly to people who write to me online. I do not edit what they write to me to make me feel or look better. I did not disclose your identity. You have consistently written things that strike me as sneaky and off the main point. When I see you deal in public with Trump and the Republicans and the MAGAs as a real Christian would do, I will have a different view of you. You don't need token reminding me of Biden's and the Democrats many failings. I am not one of them, Democrats get very uncomfortable when I get onto them about their messes. I was ruthless with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. If anyone made it tougher on men, it was not the plaintiff but it was Trump. The dumb shit should have settled the case privately, had the verdict sealed. There was a right wing nut on the jury, and even he voted with the plaintiff. Hell, I thought the verdict would be in Trump's favor, because the plaintiff had waited so long, and she could not even remember the exact year when it happened. If she had come to me as her lawyer, I would have told her she was not going to make a good plaintiff, and I would not feel okay representing her. Trump behaved like an idiot throughout the trial, and who knows if that didn't come to the jury's attention? How can such a loose cannon degenerate be president of the United States. It says volumes about the people who vote for him. Volumes.

Joseph

Christ Sloan when a person doesn't appear in court the optics to the jury any jury would assume he's guilty. Look I voted for Trump twice, so what? I've always voted the Republican ticket. Most of your posts I believe occurred when I was elated that Tucker Carlson revealed tapes that cast doubts that January 6 was an insurrection. I didn't believe it was when the Democrats chorused it in 2021 and I do not believe it is now. Not do I believe that our Atty general and his cadre around him have done squat to prosecute Hunter Biden for fear that it also involves influence peddling right up to Joe Biden's wallet. As for the Carroll case when you mention she couldn't remember the year of her rape, and that it didn't register with the jury is to me an opening of similar types of cases in the future and you probably know lawyers who might be anxious to get into the spotlight. As for Trump, If he is the Republican candidate or not, I'm voting for him or someone else. Because I think every damn Democrat is a lying piece of shit now and in 2024.

Me

And there you have it, you are a fanatic, which I thought all along. Trump hung himself with this jury by not showing up and by having bragged about kissing women and grabbing their pussies and he got away with it because he was a celebrity. You totally ignore Jesus's admonition to judge not, and to take the beam out of your own eye, including your political party's eye. The Republican Party was a Satanic Cult before Trump came on the scene, as was the Democratic Party. You side with either, you side with the demon running that cult behind the scenes in plain view, if you have eyes that see and ears that hear.

    He unfriended me, after he had sent me a friend request from out of the blue. I had no idea who he was, only that his FB profile showed we both are from Birmingham and we both attended McCallie School in Chattanooga and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, so I accepted his friend request. He tossed in Latin phrases to close his arguments, and he ignored the one Latin phrase that applied to everything: res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself.

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com