Newsmax's coverage of Donald Trump's New York trial had the expected pro-Trump bias and columnist freakouts -- and it also promoted Trump's campaign rallies during the trial while letting him complain he couldn't campaign because of the trial.
By Terry Krepel Posted 8/19/2024
You will not be surprised to learn that Newsmax’s coverage of Donald Trump’s business fraud trial in New York -- like that of the MediaResearchCenter -- took a heavily pro-Trump stance. Before the trial started, an April 14 article by Nick Koutsobinas repeated a claim by Trump that “the Biden administration is coordinating with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing Trump’s hush-money case,” which Koutsobinas made no effort to fact-check. On April 15, the first day of the trial, Newsmax published wire articles Trump’s efforts to meddle in the trial and fighting against a gag order — but it also gave lots of space to Trump and his media mouthpieces and toadies to complain about the trial:
Toward the end of the day, Newsmax ran another wire article featuring more Trump complaints about the judge. All par for the course from the pro-Trumpers at Newsmax.
Newsmax continued hosting various Trump apologists to rant about the trial throughout the rest of April and portray him as being above the law:
Eric Mack contributed an April 28 “news” article detailing “6 Big Things from Trump’s Trial You Need to Know,” which was largely dedicated to repeating pro-Trump talking points, such as “We Still Don’t Know the Crime” and “Trump Is Accused of a Non-Crime” and “They’re Skirting the Constitution to Get Trump.” Mack also tried to downplay the relevance of Trump working with the National Enquirer to bury the story of his affair with Stormy Daniels, insisting this kind of catch-and-kill operation “happened all the time.”
James Morley III tried to fearmonger about jailing Trump in an April 30 article rewritten from the right-wing Washington Examiner:
Following the imposition of a contempt of court fine on Tuesday against former President Donald Trump, legal experts have cautioned that a threatened jail term by the judge could lead to widespread upheaval.
Earlier in the day, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan leveled a $9,000 fine against Trump for violating the terms of a previously imposed gag order.
In the written order, Merchan threatened, “Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.”
[...]
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahani told the Washington Examiner that while jailing Trump seemed unlikely, it “may lead to mass protests or even civil unrest.”
Harmon added, “I suspect it would cause widespread condemnation and countrywide protests from his base.”
Attorney and former associate justice for the Massachusetts Superior Court Shannon Frison told the Washington Examiner that Merchan needs to consider the threat of societal unrest when making his judgements.
Morley didn’t mention whether any of those “legal experts” are Trump supporters and, thus, had an interest in fearmongering about jailing Trump.
Larry Bell did his own sucking up in an April 22 column:
Bottoming out outrageous lawfare assaults on Donald Trump and U.S. justice — at least so far — former Attorney General William Barr described the latest trial case in New York charging the former president of paying hush money to cover up an alleged affair with an adult film actress two decades ago as “obviously political” and an “abomination.”
The trial, which began today, includes 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,00 payment made through his then-attorney Michael Cohen a month prior to the 2016 election to conceal release of politically damaging exposure of a 2006 sexual encounter with stage-named performer “Stormy Daniels.”
Trump has denied any legal wrongdoing as well as having engaged in the alleged sexual scandal. Cohen, the prosecution’s key witness against the former president, was convicted of campaign finance violations and bank fraud in 2018 and sentenced to three years in prison.
[...]
After waiting seven years to prosecute Trump, the salacious show trial appears suspiciously scheduled to keep the Democrat’s leading opponent in court throughout much of the crucial campaign season.
Judge Merchan is insisting that the former (and possible future) free world leader sit in his Manhattan courtroom throughout an uncertain trial period which may last weeks or even months under penalty of criminal arrest for missed appearances.
This likely requires Trump to limit campaign rallies to weekends when the court isn’t in session, while legacy media attention remains fixated on courtroom theater staged to destroy his candidacy.
Bell didn’t explain why Trump deserves treatment that is more preferential than that of any other accused criminal.
Touting Trump rallies during trial
While Newsmax was letting Trump apologists rage about his being on trial, it was also continuing to lavish its usualuncriticalstenography of Trump’s rallies being held when he wasn’t in the courtroom. Michael Katz served up one such article after a May 1 rally in Wisconsin:
Former President Donald Trump focused on the economic failures of the Biden administration during his campaign stop in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
It was his first campaign appearance on a weekday outside of New York since his criminal trial over allegedly falsifying business records to cover a $130,00 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels began April 15.
“When I’m in the White House, the Biden economic bust will quickly be replaced by the Trump economic boom,” Trump said to a raucous crowd at the Waukesha County Expo Center.
Katz didn’t bother to fact-check anything Trump said — he was in pure stenography mode. Katz and Eric Mack served up more stenography about the rally as well as another one that day at a Michigan airport:
Before that, Katz wrote an April 24 article promoting the rallies, touting that it would be "the first time Trump has traveled out of New York on a weekday for a campaign event since his trial on charges of falsifying business records to cover a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels began on April 15.”
A week or so later, Mack cranked out more stenography for a Trump rally in New Jersey:
Mack didn’t fact-check any of Trump’s claims, but he made sure to point out that the rally “aired live and in its entirety on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 streaming platform.”
The following weekend, it was stenography time again for Mack as he touted Trump’s appearance at the National Rifle Association convention:
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump accepted the endorsement of the National Rifle Association at the NRA Leadership Forum in Dallas on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a true honor to be here today to receive the endorsement of the proud American patriots at the NRA,” Trump told the forum in a speech that aired live and in its entirety on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 streaming platform. “These are great patriots. These are great people, and we’re going to do things like nobody can believe.
“We’re going to win this election at levels that nobody’s ever seen before. Thank you very much for that endorsement — means a lot to me.”
Trump denounced the Democrats, saying they put the Second Amendment “under siege.”
Despite his employer having devoted numerous articles to Trump’s campaign activities during the trial, the apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy gave Trump a May 20 article to whine that the trial was keeping him from campaigning:
Former President Donald Trump on Monday apologized to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire for not being able to campaign in those states due to his criminal trial in New York City.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, addressed reporters Monday morning before the trial resumed in Manhattan.
“I’m here instead of campaigning,” Trump said in remarks that aired live on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 online streaming platform. “As you know, I was supposed to be in a very different state this morning. And the judge actually decided to call it [the trial to resume] early. And yet it looks like we’re going to have a very big gap between days, and it’s going to be determined right now in court.
McCarthy didn’t disclose that over the previous few weeks, Trump had in fact been campaigning in Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey and Texas. But that would have proven Trump wrong, and Newsmax is not in the business of doing that.
Newsmax also heavily hyped a rally he held right in New York City, the site of his trial. Mack gushed in a May 18 article:
Campaigning in deep-blue states, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is hosting a campaign event Thursday at 6 p.m. ET in the Bronx, highlighting what he says is the damage done to working-class America under President Joe Biden.
There was no calling it a traditional rally in the campaign update, but it is being billed as an opportunity for Trump “to highlight the horrendous effects Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous presidency has had on our economy.”
Notably, Trump just hosted a full-blown rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, where local officials said he drew an estimated 80,000 people on the famed beach-side boardwalk area. The blue states of New Jersey and New York tend to be chalked up as already won in presidential elections due to a roughly 2-1 registered Democrat-Republican margin, but Trump is taking his message to Democrat-controlled areas.
The only reference Mack made to Trump’s trial came in a promo in the final paragraph: “Thursday’s event at Crotona Park in the South Bronx. Tune into Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 online streaming platform for the latest from Trump’s trial in Manhattan early next week and his campaign development.”
The day of the rally on May 23, Newsmax ran a wire article previewing the rally. That was followed by a slobbering article by Mack on the rally itself:
Making a bold trek into deep-blue New York City and State, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump vowed to “make New York City great again.”
“Hello to all of the incredible, tough, strong, hard-working American patriots right here in the Bronx,” Trump told a campaign rally at Crotona Park, which aired live and in its entirety on the Newsmax2 online streaming platform. “I’m thrilled to be back in the city I grew up in, the city I spent my life in, the city I helped build, and the city that we all love: New York City.
“And I’m here tonight to declare that we are going to turn New York City around, and we are going to turn it around very, very quickly.”
Speaking to New Yorkers in a rare trip to the deep-blue city and state, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump issued a stark warning about mass illegal immigration under President Joe Biden destroying “your lifestyle” and “American dream.”
“If you look at these people — did you see them? — they are physically fit,” Trump told a campaign rally at Crotona Park, which aired on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 online streaming platform. “They are 19 to 25. Almost everyone is a male, and they look like fighting age.
“I think they’re building an army!”
Trump is lying about that, but Mack won’t tell you since he’s just a stenographer, not an actual reporter. Still, Mack cranked out a third piece of stenography from the rally:
Speaking to a deep-blue district in a deep-blue state, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump brought a new wrinkle to his usual campaign rally speech Thursday, briefly eschewing politics to talk about “success.”
“Because we have so many young people here today, I want to talk about — just for a moment — about success,” Trump told a Bronx campaign rally at Crotona Park, which aired live on the Newsmax2 online streaming platform.
“We are in the Bronx. We have young people, people that aspire to success, and I just wanted to — you know, I’m so tired of politics; can we devote six minutes to success?”
Trump’s message did not completely abandon the politics of his trying to compete in the Bronx district that went 87% for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, but he talked about getting and sustaining “momentum,” doing something “you love,” and getting lucky through outworking your competition.
That was followed by the usual parade of Trump toadies running to Newsmax to gush over the rally:
That’s nine original articles at Newsmax promoting a rally that drew only a few thousand people — not that many given how many millions of people live in New York City.
Trump (and Newsmax) squeezed in one more promotional appearance during the trial. Sandy Fitzgerald touted it in a May 1 article:
Former President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to speak at the Libertarian Party’s national convention later this month and to answer members’ concerns while commenting that if Libertarians join forces with Republicans, “the election won’t even be close” between him and President Joe Biden.
“Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, D.C., later this month,” the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said in an announcement from the Libertarian Party to Newsmax. “We must all work together to help advance freedom and liberty for every American, and a second Trump administration will achieve that goal.”
Trump’s speech is scheduled for May 25, and he said the event will be “attended by many of my great friends.”
“We all have to remember that our goal is to defeat the worst president in the history of the United States, BY FAR, crooked Joe Biden,” Trump said.
Libertarian Party National Chairwoman Angela McArdle, meanwhile, said the party plans to share a list of its top 10 issues with Trump before the convention in hopes of making an impact on his policy positions.
A May 7 article by Fitzgerald touted Robert Kennedy Jr. — whose Democratic-turned-independent campaign Newsmax has touted off and on depending on whether doing so would help Trump — declaring that he wanted to debate Trump at the Libertarian convention.
For the May 25 speech itself — which Newsmax apparently did not air, unusual for a Trump speaking appearance — a wire article served as a preview, in which it was revealed that Trump planned to attack Kennedy. It was left to another wire article to summarize how Trump “was booed and heckled by many in a raucous audience at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his fervently loyal supporters.” So it was left to Newsmax's Trump-toady talking heads to put the best spin on it. A May 26 article by Fitzgerald touted Trump-fluffing from former Republican Rep. Jack Kingston:
Trump was not met with enthusiastic support during his speech at the Libertarian National Convention Saturday night, but Kingston lauded him as “fearless.”
“He will go out and preach the gospel, the message of smaller government, more personal freedom, less regulations, and he’ll do it in the Bronx,” said Kingston. “He’ll do it in Rome, Georgia, he’ll do it at the liberal convention and I hope it goes next to Hollywood and then maybe to liberals in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.”
[...]
Meanwhile, Trump stressed to the libertarians that he’s been indicted on 91 different counts, and he promised that he would use the federal government against his enemies. Kingston said this is a message that Americans understand.
“Americans understand the DOJ has been weaponized, and that’s why Trump is doing so well,” he said. “People get it. This is a political prosecution.”
Yes, we understand that Trump has voted to make his presidency one of retribution and vengeance.
A hour or so later, Fitzgerald hyped another Republican politician gushing over Trump’s speech:
Former President Donald Trump is “spot on the target” to court the Libertarian vote, as he is a “pragmatic leader” who believes that the nation’s sovereignty matters, Rep. Ryan Zinke said on Newsmax Sunday, while discussing the presumptive GOP nominee’s speech at the Libertarian National Convention Saturday, where he was met with boos rather than his usual enthusiastic support.
“I think as a candidate, Donald Trump did exactly what he should be doing,” the Montana Republican said on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America Weekend.” “He goes right in it, as he always does. And look, Donald Trump is a movement as much as he is a candidate.”
A May 29 column by Debra J. Saunders blamed the Libertarians’ mixed reaction to Trump on “a number of bars in the lobby and full plastic cups in the convention hall,” then praised Trump’s Libertarian outreach:
By showing up at the Libertarian confab, Trump showed a willingness to fight for the support of voters whom the political class often ignores.
He calls them “the forgotten man.”
With that, Trump’s top billing might hurt the Libertarian Party among members, but the move certainly didn’t hurt the Trump campaign.
My guess is Trump left the event with more votes than he had before he began his 35-minute remarks.
Saunders concluded by gushing: “Do I think Trump will put a Libertarian in his Cabinet if he wins a second term? Yes, I do.”
Columnists freak out
As Trump’s New York Trial continued, Newsmax columnists made sure to rage about the purported injustice of it all. Nicholas Chamberas played the Stalin card in a May 16 column:
“Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime,” or alternately: “Give me the man and I will give you the case against him.” Those chilling words are credited to Lavrentiy Beria, and the Stalinist-era judge Andrey Vyshinsky.
Beria was the notorious director of the Soviet “secret police” (The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, or NKVD) under Joseph Stalin. Beria’s actions generated countless “show trials” to justify gruesome executions of innocent people whose “guilt” had been pre-ordained long before any “trial” took place.
While former President Donald J. Trump does not face a physical execution in the “Stormy Daniels Trial,” the goal is to execute his political career and personal reputation, rendering him incapable of ever again seeking public office.
One may be justified in drawing parallels between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg prosecuting this outlandish case and Beria finding “crimes” against those who displeased Stalin.
[...]
The Manhattan show trial against President Trump is a gross abuse of power; it is a Kafkaesque, profligate, and disgusting spectacle.
It should terrify all of us.
Trump’s pollster, John McLaughlin, served up yet another pro-Trump poll of dubious quality in his May 20 column, claiming that "The polling data shows a majority of voters want the political prosecutions of Trump to stop. At the same time voters have factored Joe Biden’s legal persecution of Trump into their voting calculus." He added, "After four years of Joe Biden, Americans know that they’re not better off."
Events and evidence released during the previous two days reveal that the Democratic Party is focusing on a single strategy to achieve victory in the 2024 elections: Remove former President Trump from the equation, using any means available.
Trump’s lawyer’s rested their case yesterday in the Manhattan “hush money” trial.
At this point Judge Juan Merchan will let the lawyers know what instructions he’ll give to the jury after each side submits their own proposed jury instructions.
On Tuesday of next week the lawyers will present their closing arguments and Merchan will give the jury its instructions.
Then it will all be up to the jurors.
But Monday it was the stuff of George Orwell, Star Chamber trials and banana republics, according to former Harvard law professor, celebrated lawyer, and constitutional scholar Akan Dershowitz.
[...]
Dershowitz reported that Merchan routinely excluded obviously relevant evidence offered by the defense, while permitting the inclusion of irrelevant but salacious evidence for the prosecution.
But perhaps the most outrageous incident was when Merchan completely lost his composure and cleared the courtroom because a defense witness, attorney Robert Costello, raised his eyebrows in reaction to one of the judge’s insane rulings.
[...]
Mercian later refused to permit the testimony of a federal election official, who would have testified that the alleged “hush money” scheme did not amount to a violation of federal election law, contrary to the prosecution’s theory.
That’s presumably a reference to potential witness Bradley Smith. But Merchan didn’t block him from testifying — Trump’s legal team did not call on him after Merchan refused Trump’s demand to greatly broaden the scope of the trial.
Dorstewitz served up more pro-Trump talking point reinforcement in his May 29 column:
If there was ever any doubt that the string of indictments and lawsuits targeting former President Trump were rooted in politics, that doubt should have disappeared Tuesday morning.
The Biden reelection campaign held a press briefing yesterday at a questionable location — in front of the Manhattan courthouse where jurors were about to hear closing arguments in the so-called “hush money” trial against Trump.
Donald Trump Jr. recognized the implications right away.
“In case you needed more evidence that all of these BS cases were quarterbacked by Team Biden to interfere in the 2024 election, the Biden campaign is now showing up in NYC to explicitly cheerlead the political prosecution of my father,” he said.
[...]
And like everything else, the Trump lawsuits and indictments have nothing to do with a quest for justice. They’re a failing, feeble last-ditch effort to save a failing, feeble campaign, to extend a failing, feeble administration, run by a failing, feeble president.
And it’s coming down at a time when “Dems [are] in full-blown ‘freakout’ over Biden.”
It’s all politics, and the Democratic presidential rally in front of the courthouse where Biden’s No.-1 competitor’s trial was winding down proves it — transparently so.
It’s not just lawfare on a grand scale — it’s election interference as America has never seen since Nov. 3, 2020.
Unsurprisingly, Dorstewitz offered no evidence of that purported “election interference” in 2020.
