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Now I know why lawyers still represent Trump: Money

A slow afternoon after the excitement of the morning, I was reading an article about how much money ex-President Donald Trump had spent in 2023 on lawyers.  The total was staggering, over $50 million.  That is a huge sum, but then as the article explained there are half a dozen lawsuits plus appeals etc etc etc.  Also, none of the money was his, rather it was money he had raised from donors. In 2023, 20% of all the money raised by Trump for his election campaign went to pay for his legal fees.

The most amazing relates to a trial for defamation in which a woman, sued Trump on two different occasions because of sexual assault, and rape.  Because Trump was President when the first lawsuit was launched, and was delayed because of appeals by Trump, the second lawsuit came to trial first and Trump lost and was fined $5 million.  

Trump, kept on insulting the defendant, that he didn't know her, and that anyway, she was ugly (it's all on YouTube).  He did this for months, at many political rallies that he held, before, during and after his conviction.  When the second trial came before a jury (something that Trump selected), the FIRST thing that the judge said was that was guilty (It's a legal doctrine, you cannot retry a case).  His guilt was proven in the previously settled lawsuit.  The only issue was damages.

Trump hired two lawyers, a rather spectacular bombshell who admitted that it was better to be pretty than smart, as you could fake smart, and a tough "old guy" serious defence attorney.  About five months ago, the solid and serious lawyer quit Trump's team.

Two weeks ago the jury verdict came back, and they imposed a fine of $83 million on Trump.  The bombshell did a horrible job, seemed almost incapable of protecting Trump, and Trump did almost everything to get the jury to hate his guts -- as if this was his objective.

It seems that Trump's intention was to win on appeal, (a well-known Trump tactic) but to do so he needed three things (a) a new lawyer, (b) a case that could be appealed and (c) an $85 million bond.

Trump seems to be having problems with all three conditions.  When he tried and failed to appeal the first verdict (for $5 million) he posted the bond in cash (he didn't or couldn't get a bond company to post the bond for him).  He also needs a new lawyer.  The reason he is having a problem with finding a new lawyer according to the article is that his previous lawyer (aka the bombshell) did such a poor job that there's nothing to appeal, she apparently didn't know that she had to object to evidence -- to demonstrate that there was an error in law.  Appeal courts will get involved if two things occur, (a) if there has been an error in law, and (b) if the award given by the jury is out of proportion with the crime.  It seems that although $85 million is a lot, it is well within the norms especially since Trump continued during, and after losing to defame the plaintiff.  There is nothing to lodge an appeal.

None of this is the punchline to the story.  The punchline; the bombshell lawyer fees for her "incompetence" was $5 million.  Maybe his lawyer (aka the bombshell) was right.  It's more important to be pretty than bright, she made $5 million proving it! 

Note:  Trump has to pay judgements with his own money.  Legal fees can be paid by anyone.  In his case it was his political action committees.  Which makes you wonder why he never paid Giuliani's legal bills... 

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