Newsmax had some time to kill while the jury deliberated in Donald Trump’s New York trial, so it spent May 29 bucking up its pro-Trump audience by pushing narratives they would like. Michael Katz served up more whining from Trump:
As the jury concluded its first day of deliberations in Donald Trump’s trial in New York, the former president said Wednesday it’s still unclear what criminal statute he violated.
The jurors reportedly deliberated for more than four hours and were dismissed after asking for portions of the testimony from two witnesses and at least some of Judge Juan Merchan’s instructions to be read back to them.
“The confusion is, nobody knows what the crime is because there’s no crime,” Trump said in a statement outside the Manhattan courthouse after the jury was dismissed. “Nobody knows what the crime is. The DA [Democrat Alvin Bragg] didn’t name the crime.
“They don’t know what the crime is. That’s what the problem is. It’s a disgrace. This thing ought to be ended immediately. The judge ought to end it and save his reputation.”
As Trump well knows, Trump faced 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal his hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels. Katz did note in his article, but he then tried to obfuscate things:
Prosecutors waited until closing arguments Tuesday — after the defense rested its case and could not respond — to disclose the underlying crime was violating federal campaign-finance law, which the state of New York has no jurisdiction to enforce. Only federal agencies such as the Department of Justice and Federal Elections Commission can enforce such violations, and both refused to prosecute Trump.
Newsmax also served up part of its usual coterie of Trump sycophants to complain and speculate:
- Pam Bondi to Newsmax: Quick Verdict Likely Good for Trump
- Pam Bondi to Newsmax: Trump Conviction Would Be Overturned
- Dershowitz to Newsmax: Trump Prosecutors Misled Jury
Newsmax also took time to have a mini-meltdown over actor Robert De Niro paying a visit outside the courthouse. James Hirsen huffed in a May 29 column:
In what looked and smelled a lot like a Hollywood junket, the Biden campaign recently held a surprise press conference of its own outside the now-famous Manhattan courtroom.
It featured none other than actor Robert De Niro, along with two former Capitol police officers.
The big problem for the Dems, though, is that the event turned out to be a huge flop at the political box office.
The Biden campaign trotted out an extremely crabby De Niro, who sported a nonglitzy COVID mask and read from a script that appeared to be scribbled on note cards.
The actor went from a stammer to a ramble to a rant, his lines falling flat and his performance likewise.
[…]Personally, I am stunned that an actor of De Niro’s stature would have risked squandering away his fame capital in such a blatant manner.
Where in the world were his handlers?
AWOL, I guess, because it seems that he is making a series of career-busting blunders.
He recently provided his voice to the Biden campaign for a political ad and boasted about joining the efforts of the 2024 Democratic presidential campaign.
Sadly, the once widely-esteemed actor looked bad and sounded worse. He also managed to offend tens of millions of Americans during the supposed Hollywood-style presser, calling Trump supporters “clowns” and “gangsters.”
No doubt it was a bad career move for De Niro.
But it may turn out to be an even worse one for the current occupant of the White House.
Then again, Hirsen’s idea of an “esteemed actor” is Shia LeBeouf, who’s more famous for abusing his girlfriends than any recent acting gig.
Mike Huckabee came in to whine about De Niro as well, as well as demonstrate his residency in an alternate universe when it comes to Trump:
“I think the craziest thing these people on the left are saying is Donald Trump won’t leave,” he continued. “Excuse me, but he did leave. He was president for four years, and we had a very orderly transition of power. People say, ‘Well, what about Jan. 6?’ Donald Trump didn’t go down to the Capitol and throw anything. Certainly, he had questions about the election — a lot of us still do — but he left office just like he said he would on Jan. 20, and Joe Biden became president. So, this is nonsense, and these people keep saying stuff that don’t make sense.”
Huckabee seems to have forgotten that Trump didn’t have to “go down to the Capitol and throw anything” — he incited hundreds of people to do that to keep his own hands clean so people like Huckabee can make ridiculous claims about it.