CLAN: "What would you give in exchange for your soul?"

FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024

The Wreck of The Old #4: Friends, how well are you served by the works of your clan?

The issue arose yesterday at the start of Deadline: White House. 

Two of the original seven Trump jurors had now been dismissed by Judge Merchan. We speak of the original Jurors #2 and #4. As of the end of day Tuesday, they had both been placed on the original list of seven approved jurors.

No jury election occurred on Wednesday. As of 10 o'clock yesterday morning, Politico had laid out some new facts concerning the case of Juror #4: 

Headline included, this is the way matters stood a full six hours before Nicolle Wallace took her "favorite reporters and friends"—her clan—on the air at Deadline: White House:

Prosecutors looked into one of the jurors. A man with the same name was arrested in the ’90s for tearing down right-wing political posters.

Jury selection hit another snag this morning: Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the judge prosecutors conducted research that potentially calls into question the veracity of a number of juror No. 4’s responses to the questionnaire.

Prosecutors found information that a man with the same name as the juror, an IT consultant, had been arrested in the 1990s for tearing down right-wing political posters in Westchester County.

If it's the same person, his wife was also involved in a corruption inquiry and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The juror did not disclose either of these facts during the selection process.

The judge plans to question the juror today to determine if he should be excused.

That's where matters stood as of 10 a.m. To their credit, the prosecutors had brought this matter to Judge Merchan's attention. The judge said he planned to question the juror about what the prosecutors had found,

CBS News takes it from there. This report had been fully updated as of 12:40 p.m.:

What to know about the jurors in Trump's "hush money" trial in New York

[...]

Now dismissed, Juror #4 said he was from Puerto Rico and reads The New York Daily News and The New York Times. He cited "my family" as his hobby. An IT consultant, he described Trump as "fascinating and mysterious." 

In court on Thursday, prosecutors said they discovered information about someone sharing the person's name who was arrested and potentially involved in a corruption investigation in the 1990s. Juror #4 said he had never been accused or convicted of a crime under questioning earlier in the week.

The man was briefly questioned by attorneys in front of the judge, out of earshot from the court's microphones. Merchan ultimately decided to dismiss him, but ordered the details of the questioning sealed, saying the information discussed was personal in nature.

Juror #4 had been called into question by prosecutors, and then was dismissed by the judge. 

Was it true? Had this juror been "arrested in the ’90s for tearing down right-wing political posters?" Had he lied about this history during the original questioning which landed him on the jury?

As far as we know, those questions remain unanswered. As far as we know, Judge Merchan hasn't said what he came to believe when he questioned Juror 4.

That said, this was the fully understood state of play as of 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Three hours later, Nicolle Wallace went on the air and offered a highly selective clown show, pleasing members of Blue America's clan in the process.

Lisa Rubin played along, even though she had to be aware of the confusion the Wallace conflations had caused. Indeed, Rubin was the reporter of record on the first of these three posts about Juror #4 posted by NBC News:

Merchan raises concerns about "the veracity of Juror #4’s answers"

After discussion about the gag order, Merchan said he had concerns about one of the jurors and how truthfully the person had answered questions.

One of the questions on the juror questionnaire asks if the juror or any of their family members were accused of a crime.

Joshua Steinglass of the DA's office told Merchan that they discovered an article featuring a person with the same name who was arrested in Westchester in the 1990s for tearing down political advertisements. 

Juror 4 has arrived

The person previously seated on the jury has come into the courtroom. He is going to be asked about crimes he or his wife are alleged to have committed, after they were unearthed by the DA's office.

Merchan excuses Juror No. 4

After they had a conference with the juror, Merchan announced he's excusing juror No. 4, who had previously been seated and sworn him [sic]. His prior arrest was questioned by the DA.

Long story short:

The judge decided to dismiss Juror #4. It's possible that the juror had lied about his past behavior.

That's where these matters stood as of yesterday afternoon at 1 o'clock. Now for the rest of the story:

Two days earlier, on Tuesday afternoon's The Five, Jesse Watters had made this statement about the jury selection process. Later, he tweeted the statement, along with some videotape from The Five:

They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury

So tweeted Jesse Watters. At that point, Watters wasn't referring to Juror 2 or to Juror 4. But Donald J. Trump then retweeted the Watters tweet, an action which may have violated the gag order he is supposed to be obeying.

Yesterday afternoon, Wallace started with that tweet by Watters and with the Trump retweet. Already completely lost in the weeds, Wallace offered this at 4:02:

The ex-president also posted a quite from that guy--his name is Jesse Watters--calling jurors quote "undercover liberal activists." It is of course a blatant but strategic lie.

That's what she said at 4:02. It wasn't clear how she could know that there were no such liberal activists trying to worm their way onto the jury, but she also knew that the statement was a blatant lie.

By 4:06 p.m., her conflation was complete. According to Wallace's thoroughly bungled representation, Watters' tweet had been an attack on Juror #2, a claim which was plainly false.

By 4:15, Wallace was saying that Watters had "smeared" Juror #2, thus forcing the juror to ask to be removed from jury duty. This representation was factually bogus, a cri de coeur emanating from deep inside a clan.

By 4:16, it was Susanne Criag to the attempted rescue! Wallace had been emoting all day. The New York Times had already offered this accurate thumbnail concerning Juror #2: 

The woman excused from the jury said she had been concerned about public reports about her. She is an oncology nurse and her employer had been widely reported. Her friends, colleagues and family told her she had been identified as a potential juror, an alarming development that she said prompted her to reconsider whether she could serve.

Why had Juror #2 asked to be relieved of duty? "She is an oncology nurse and her employer had been widely reported," the Times had accurately said. 

In fact, Watters hadn't done either of those things, though many others had. Craig tried to calm the discussion down, but Wallace kept conflating.

For once in his life, Watters hadn't done the inappropriate things, but so what? Wallace continued with her targeted, inaccurate bombast, deeply in thrall to the clan.

Long story short:

When Wallace went on the air yesterday, she emoted about Juror 2, who had been released from duty at her own request—a matter which didn't seem to have anything to do with anything Watters of Trump had done.

Emoting hard, Wallace said that this is why our democracy is in danger. She reported that two (2) jurors had been released, but she never mentioned the shaky circumstances surrounding the release of Juror 4—and when Rubin arrived to comment around 5:30, she offered no clarification.

Readers, let us ask you a question:

"What would you give in exchange for your soul?"

That was the opening lyric of the first hit record by Bill and Charlie Monroe. It was a bit hit in the Carolinas in 1935. You can hear Bill Monroe provide the background just by clicking here.

What would you give in exchange for your soul? The song began this way:

Brother you're far from the savior today
Risking your soul for the things that decay...

Back in 2004, Wallace started risking her soul in the attempt to outlaw same-sex marriage. 

By now, she's been NeverTrump for a long time. But in her pursuit of that wholly sensible agenda, she began to lose control over her fairness and balance a very long time ago. 

We agree with her general view of the ongoing Trump years. Along the way, assuming minimal competence, she seems to have abandoned the requirement that conflations, distortions and pleasing misstatements shouldn't be thrown on the air.

The original statement by Watters was a typical bit of silly-boy horseplay by the slithery new Fox star. When Trump retweeted what Watters had said, he may have violated the terms of the prevailing gag order.

That will be decided next week. Yesterday, Wallace rushed on the air and—assuming minimal competence—began to dissemble and conflate. 

She emoted about Juror 2, never mentioned Juror 4. 

She pretended that the plight of Juror 2 had somehow been caused by Watters and Trump. Simply put, we know of no evidence that that's the case.

Along the way, the persistently slippery Watters had possibly called his shot! Judge Merchan had decided to release Juror #4—a juror who actually may have lied to the judge in order to get on the jury!

That would possibly make him a type of anti-Trump "stealth juror." By the rules of the clan, none of this could be allowed to go on Blue American air.

Within our clan, we're shielded from ever hearing such things. Within our clan, we hear about potential stealth jurors from Red America, not about their possible opposite number from Blue.

Bill and Charlie Monroe recorded that first hit in the throes of the Great Depression. It was a big hit in the Carolinas, where money was rather scarce.

Today, Wallace is paid millions of dollars to drive Blue America's narratives. The Monroe Brothers' hit ended like this:

More than all silver and gold of this Earth
More than all jewels the spirit is worth
God the creator has given it birth
What would you give in exchange for your soul?

Wallace is paid millions of dollars. Eagerly, she joins Watters in pursuit of this ancient assignment:

Keep clan alive!

This afternoon:  Has any human being ever made a dumber statement? (Tim O'Brien Deadline watch)

Also, Acyn rides again! A look at who we secretly are, here inside our clan