I Don’t Think Chris Kise Is A 🤡

Immediately above in relation to AG's early October memo which accuses the Trump Org of "using objectively false factual assumptions like inflated square footage."

Kise suggests that in commercial real estate you can't make such judgments. (Not a big endorsement of real estate.)

— Colin "Casserole" Kalmbacher (@colinkalmbacher) November 3, 2022

But he plays one in the courtroom for Trump.

Notes that Trump Org II was formed days before the complaint was filed, in Delaware, and then incorporated in New York. Says that the defendant wouldn't have formed a corporation in New York State under his own name if he intended to abscond with or remove assets from the state.

— Colin "Casserole" Kalmbacher (@colinkalmbacher) November 3, 2022

This is actually a good effort (although the filing was anticipated), but the “Donald Trump isn’t that stupid” defense is not as strong as he thinks it is.

"There's no need for the court to be in the position that it's in today," Kise says, returning to a line about the beleaguered court. Repeats there are no plans to issue any valuations or remove assets. "The bottom line is these buildings aren't going anywhere. They're here."

— Colin "Casserole" Kalmbacher (@colinkalmbacher) November 3, 2022

Then again, this is too clever by half. The buildings are immovable; ownership, however, is quite fungible. And that’s the issue.

Engoron seizes on this and wants to know if this is a good faith disagreement. Kise says in the context it could be. Judge wants to know how material the difference was. Wallace says that Weisselberg said the discrepancy accounted for "give or take $200 million."

— Colin "Casserole" Kalmbacher (@colinkalmbacher) November 3, 2022

Is that an “objective” measure? (Kise simply doesn’t have the facts on his side.)

Engoron asks: can't the Trump Org properties be sold?

— Colin "Casserole" Kalmbacher (@colinkalmbacher) November 3, 2022

As I was saying.

No telling where the judge goes on this. But as with most Trump attorneys, Kise is stuck making bricks without straw. We’ll see how that works for him.