Donald Trump Wanted to Keep This Video Deposition Secret. We Got a Copy (Trump U scam)

[steve2470]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/09/donald-trump-university-fraud-lawsuit-deposition-full-video/

He and his lawyer hoped to prevent this footage from the Trump University fraud case from “getting into the hands of the media.”

During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump was burdened with lawsuits that accused him and his Trump University of defrauding students who had paid thousands of dollars to learn the supposed secrets of Trump’s financial success. Though the Trump U controversy raised questions about Trump’s fitness for office, he managed to score two legal victories in the case as it proceeded. He won a postponement in the trial until after Election Day, and he managed to seal the video of a six-hour deposition he gave in the case. That meant voters would not see news reports of Trump on the stand in a federal civil fraud case or be able to watch this footage of Trump being questioned concerning allegations of fraud. But Mother Jones has now obtained the full video of Trump’s deposition, and though the written transcript of the session was released in June 2016, the video version includes several exchanges that likely would not have played well for Trump had they become public when he was chasing votes.

Trump sat for this deposition in Trump Tower on December 10, 2015. The video shows him parrying with the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Jason Forge, over various issues, including false statements made by Trump University employees, and Trump’s own memory. Trump at one point griped, “It’s the most ridiculous lawsuit I’ve ever seen.” He claimed not to remember having boasted that he possessed one of the best memories in the world and repeatedly said he could not recall matters related to the case. He downplayed false and misleading statements presented by Trump University instructors as merely “hyperbole,” refusing to label them “false.” He even disavowed a passage from one of his own books in which he had assailed educational institutions for committing “fraud.” Had the video deposition been released during the campaign, it may have yielded ammo for anti-Trump ads. At the start of the deposition, Trump’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said he and Trump did not want the transcript “getting into the hands of the media.” Regarding the video, they succeeded.

Mother Jones was provided the video by a source who asked not to be identified. Art Cohen, a lead plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Trump University and Trump, confirmed that this was the actual video of the deposition. “On this video, Trump’s shifty memory and dishonest character are exposed when he is faced with questions that demand the truth,” Cohen says. (Last month, Mother Jones posted video of a conversation that occurred during a break in these proceedings between Trump and Petrocelli, in which Trump boasted of threatening the Better Business Bureau to change the D grade it awarded Trump University to an A.)

[abqtommy]

1. Ahh, video and audio are often our friends!

[matt819]

2. You could show his supporters images of nuclear bomb blasts

And tell them that their dear leader just nuked Los Angeles and they would be okay with that.

Show them violent protests from around the world and tell them that government forces have responded with deadly force in New York or Chicago and they would applaud him. We’re at the point where the news can report the same events in blue areas of red states, where his supporters might have family or friends, and they will rationalize it. They are a death cult. Take violent scenes from movies and tell them it’s real and in democratic cities and they will cheer.

We are living in (at least) two different nations. And while Biden correctly states that he will be the president of all the states and all the people, the reality of far different. The red staters hate us to the point of wishing us dead, and we have nothing but contempt for them.

[yonder]

3. This is great. I can see why they wanted to hide this.

tRump is even more of a jerk when he's pinned down and forced to answer questions. If that is even possible. It was nice to see him squirming.

[NoRoadUntravelled]

4. I'm glad Mother Jones got the video now instead of after the election.

Like my grandma used to say, "Better late than never."

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thank you. 👍 Kicking.