by
ti-amie Day 1 of the first ever criminal trial of a former POTUS.
Laffy
@
GottaLaff@mastodon.social
24/ Klasfeld:
Justice Merchan tells jurors that trial is expected to last roughly 6 weeks, though he emphasizes that's just an estimate.
Press pool: "It's a diverse cross-section of Manhattanites."
Before proceedings began, Justice Merchan said he would immediately excuse jurors who said they couldn't be fair.
25/ !!
Wow is right! Wow!
Klasfeld:
Candidates self-identifying in this way are being excused right now.
Wow.
"More than half of prospective jurors in the first panel of 96 people have been excused after saying they could not be fair and impartial. At least 50 were let go for that reason"
26/ Press: (pool reporter)
Now we will call the numbers of 18 jurors and ask you to see in the jury box. Read the questionnaire and answer the questions aloud. We'll do it be Juror ID...
27/
Orden:
At least 9 more prospective jurors were excused after raising their hand when Merchan asked if they could not serve for any other reason.
Of the excused jurors, more than two dozen were white women, per pool.
(voir dire of jurors)
39/ Klasfeld:
Per pool:
"A prospective juror leaving the courtroom was heard in the hallway saying, 'I just couldn't do it.'"
40/ Klasfeld:
The current potential juror says she follows Trump on social media, but otherwise doesn't attend his rallies, sign up for his mailings, or have family on his campaign.
She answers yes to the question about whether she has opinions on the legal limits of campaign contributions.
Afternoon recess.
42/ Press:
They're back.
Seat 4: I have a child who is getting married out of town on June 8.
Judge Merchan: I think we should be done by then, but I can't say for sure. You have to decide whether you want to roll the dice. Where is the wedding?
Seat 4: Seattle
[Excused]
43/ Lisa Rubin:
NEW: It’s 4 pm, and while nearly 2/3 of the first group of 96 prospective jurors were excused due to their self identified inability to be fair and impartial or other, unspecified inabilities to serve, we have only been through voir dire of 4 people.
This is the potential downfall of Merchan’s decision to let those who say they are “unable to serve” go, no questions asked, while questioning the remainder in detail.
44/ Rubin:
And, of course, the order in which questions are asked matters. In many cases, jurors are only asked to volunteer yes answers to a set of screening questions; those who get through that stage then can be questioned about their neighborhood, occupation, employer, etc.
47/ Orden:
A prospective juror who is an ADA in the Bronx answers a voir dire question by saying, "my girlfriend is in finance for a bank but I honestly don't know what she does," drawing laugher from prosecutors.
(more voir dire)
49/ Press:
Justice Merchan: We'll break for the day
END. Whew! I'm exhausted.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
After the jury leaves the courtroom, Trump's attorney Todd Blanche asks whether the former president can be excused whenever the jury has a day off in order to attend campaign events.
Justice Merchan says proceedings are already "way behind schedule," and unless things speed up, they may have to sit on Wednesdays, when trial is currently dark.
by
ti-amie Adam Parkhomenko
@AdamParkhomenko
Zzzzzzzz! Trump Falls Asleep in Court: The man who calls Biden 'Sleepy Joe' fell asleep in court Monday according to journalist Maggie Haberman
You never know with this guy. Could be more performative ish from him. BTW Haberman's mother is on the payroll of a PR firm tied to TFG.
by ti-amie Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews
ALERT: NY judge Juan Merchan rejects Trump's request to skip attending trial next Thursday to attend Supreme Court hearing on his "presidential immunity" argument
Judge: "Your client is a criminal defendant in New York. He is required to be here. He is not required to be in the Supreme Court. I will see him here next week"
by
ti-amie Jeff Pearlman
@jeffpearlman
OK, so this is amazing. Baron is Donald Trump's fifth child. He's had four others—all of whom graduated high school. Here's Donald Trump's attendance record at his kids' graduation ceremonies. [1]
1. In 1996, Donald Trump, Jr. graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Donald Trump failed to attend graduation.
2. In 2000, Ivanka Trump graduated from Choate, a boarding school in Wallingford, CT. Donald Trump failed to attend graduation.
3. In 2002, Eric Trump graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Donald Trump failed to attend graduation.
4. In 2012, Tiffany Trump graduated from Viewpoint School in Calabasas, California. Donald Trump failed to attend graduation.
5. In 2024, Baron Trump is graduating from Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach. Thanks to legal proceedings, Donald Trump can pretend he had plans on attending. #
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
A potential juror:
"I feel that nobody’s above the law, whether it’s a former president, a sitting president or a janitor."
Important context
The potential juror made that remark in response to this query on the questionnaire:
"Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about whether a former president may be criminally charged in state court?"
by ti-amie More of the voir dire from today. Tyler McBrien's posts are the source for all of it.
Tyler McBrien @TylerMcBrien
2:15 p.m. on the dot, and Merchan and parties are back.
Blanche rises to put an issue on the table before challenges. He says there are a number of jurors whose social media posts are contrary to the answers they gave.
Merchan seems put off by this diversion.
To note: the jurors are not yet back in the courtroom, this is just a conversation between Merchan and counsel for the two sides, including Trump.
Merchan wants to proceed with challenges. For 1-12, no challenges from Steinglass, but Blanche starts with Juror 1.
Blanche's challenge to Juror 1: she has "a series of extraordinarily hostile facebook posts," according to Blanche, and Merchan asks to see them.
Merchan reviews them, and then says, sketpically, "I'm not sure... did you hand me the right thing?" It appears to be two screengrabs, Merchan says.
One screengrab depicts a group of people saying they want to get in a car to spread the honking cheer, Merchan is confused, Blanche adds context that it was around the time that Trump lost the election, apparently. Steinglass stands and calls it "ridiculous"
Merchan says calmly to Blanche, "Show me the bias."
Blanche says this is someone who thought it significant and important enough to take and post video of a celebration at Trump's defeat—Merchan, still confused, wants to play the video so he gets the context.
"How can you confirm this is the juror's account?" Merchan asks, and Blanche says something about open source. "So by name?" Merchan asks, but Blanche says no, just the information provided and the face.
Merchan says we can't conclude that this is an anti-Trump celebration, nor that she was definitely there.
The juror in question is now coming in, and Merchan will allow the sides to ask her questions re: the social media posts.
Before she comes in, Merchan warns that he doesn't want this to be a cross-examination—only have her clarify what this is and explain why it is or isn't consistent with what she said. It's not another opportunity to voir dire her.
She's back in the courtroom. Blanche asks her about the Facebook post circa 2020 election. She went to move her car for alternate side parking (a very NY answer), and when she saw people dancing it reminded her of the 7pm cheer for service workers during COVID (another NY answer)
Blanche now asks about the caption—get in the car to spread the honking cheer, it's a full on dance party—she repeats that she just thought it was a celebratory moment in NYC, that was it.
She reads the subtext—whether or not she has bias—she says she understands implicit biases exist, but regardless of her thoughts about anyone or anything political, that the job of a juror is to understand the facts of a trial and to be the judge of those facts.
She leaves, and Merchan says that Trump was muttering audibly, speaking in the direction of the juror while she was at the podium. Merchan's voice raises a bit, he wants to make it crystal clear that he won't tolerate anything of the sort.
Blanche whispers to Trump, who nods, then Blanche turns back to address Merchan re: his challenge to the juror in question.
Steinglass is up, and says "notwithstanding the impropriety of trolling the internet," he clarifies that the standard is a "highly unfavorable" view of the defendant, which Steinglass passionately argues she did not convey.
Merchan cuts him off. "We're not going to go back and forth, this is not going to turn into an appellate argument." He's going to hear each side quickly then rule.
Merchan: "I don't want a juror on this panel who lies to us, who misleads us as to his or her views" about Trump. Merchan seems satisfied with the jurors' answers to both. Trump looks at Merchan with an inscrutable expression.
Her voice, her demeanor, all lent to her credibility in Merchan's eyes. This is the "unequivocal assurance" Merchan needs to deny the challenge, should he so choose.
Challenge for cause is DENIED for Juror 1.
by ti-amie Tyler McBrien
@TylerMcBrien
Next challenge? Blanche is going incrementally: Juror 2.
This time for conduct during the time of Trump's conduct alleged in the indictment. Juror 2 either tweeted or retweeted: "Get him out, and lock him up"
Merchan will bring Juror 2 in, but he goes back to Blanche's question: "What is your opinion of Trump?" which Merchan calls "really problematic," even though he didn't stop it in voir dire, because there were no objections from prosecution.
"What is your opinion? I really don't know what that's asking," Merchan tells Blanche. But Blanche says it's broad by design to identify an opinion or bias independent of the facts of the case.
Juror 2 is back in the courtroom. Blanche asks about the facebook post (correction: not Twitter), which he shows the juror. Juror confirms it's his account. He doesn't remember the post, but confirms that it must have been him because it's his account.
It's a bit difficult to hear the juror, but he says that he did post it at the time, but firmly reiterates his belief that he can remain unbiased.
We can't hear the questions, counsel must not have a mic, but juror says he can "put all prior feelings aside." Merchan thanks him and he steps out.
Merchan now reads the post: "Good news!! Trump lost his court battle and his unlawful travel ban!!! Get him out and lock him up" Merchan mentions he'd be fine with it if it ended at travel ban, but the desire to lock him up convinces Merchan to GRANT the challenge for cause.
With Juror at seat 2 dismissed, Blanche moves onto his next challenge. You guessed it, Juror 3.
by ti-amie Tyler McBrien
@TylerMcBrien
It's Juror B330, and Blanche pulls up screengrabs from her husband, not her, all of which he says displays anti-Trump bias. One post has Obama and Trump with the caption: "I don't think this is what they meant by Orange is the New Black"
As Merchan reads a description of that post into the record, he says "Apologies, I don't mean to offend anyone."
Trump doesn't look amused. He's looking down at the table, but my view is blocked by the computer monitor in front of him.
Blanche begins to argue his side, but Merchan cuts him off, impatiently. He doesn't want to have a full-blown argument for each juror.
Steinglass agrees, and says "people post political humor all the time—it's not a window into the soul." He takes issue with the use of social media posts in general, especially ones from as long ago as 2016.
Merchan is less inclined to allow a challenge for a 8+ year old post by a juror's husband: "Honestly if this is the worst thing you were able to find about this juror...then it gives me confidence that this juror can be" fair and impartial.
That challenge is denied.
Onto Juror 6. Blanche again distributes pieces of paper to opposing counsel and Merchann.
by ti-amie (...)
Tyler McBrien
@TylerMcBrien
Our count so far, according to Merchan:
Seat 4 becomes Juror 1 and foreperson.
Seat 5 becomes Juror 2.
Seat 12 becomes Juror 3.
Back to Blanche, challenging Seat 16 for cause. Sheets have been distributed, and Merchan, with apologies again for these attempts at humor, describes a caption: "Trump invites the Thai boys to the White House, and the boys request to return to their cave."
These posts are 6+ years ago, and Blanche gets ahead of Merchan's question by saying that some of the evidence in the trial will be from around then as well.
(...)
We're back at the questionnaire stage.
Merchan calls into the box:
Seat 1 B262
Seat 2 B270
Seat 3 B352
Seat 4 B269
Seat 5 B364
Seat 6 B344
These jurors have been watching for a while, they should know how it all works—we hope.
B262 says right away that she's a medical director and full-time doctor who is concerned about fulfilling her duty to her patients. She worries about being present. No objections, excused.
Now to B364, same question about particular views of Trump outside of this courtroom, even before he was a candidate for president. "Oh boy," he says, saying rhetorically that he's a New Yorker. "Going back to Central Park," he says apparenntly referencing the Central Park Five.
But he refuses to categorize his opinion as favorable or unfavorable.
He starts with B352, the real estate developer, and asks if he has a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Trump, what he "brings into this courtroom"? Juror responds that this is a "pretty loaded question"—there are things he disagrees with, things that were done well.
We have our second Trump reader! "The Art of the Deal, a long time ago," he says.
He wraps up the questionnaire but offers another "full disclosure, whatever it's worth," he lives on the UES, and by nature of that there are people he knows who know Trump, though he doesn't know him personally.
He offers a "full disclosure w/r/t social media," at some point when he was "learning Twitter" he "followed the president," but clarifies that he wasn't "using" Twitter, just "learning about it."
He says he was on a jury twice before, and thinks that one of the cases was between Merv Griffin and Donald Trump in one of those cases. Though it's unclear if he was a sworn juror or not, he can't quite recall the details.
He says he knows guys who "have committed crimes"—he laughs—"that's the best I can tell you."
"I'm a little nervous here, the spotlight," he says.
"Take your time," Merchan says.
"I love law enforcement," he says. "I just like it."
Last but not least, we have Seat 6 B344, who begins, "As much as I would love to serve for New York and one of our great presidents," he cannot give up my job for 6 weeks.
He is excused without objection. Now onto voir dire for the remaining panelists...
Before the jurors come back in, Merchan asks Blanche to confirm that the media they're accessing is public media—Blanche says yes. (New group of 96)
The second panel is here and sworn in. Merchan introduces himself and apologies for the waiting, and assures them that their time is not wasted. He's going to excuse them now and ask them to return Thursday morning, at which point they can can start right at 9:30 a.m.
At the buzzer, we have our seventh juror:
Seat 4 (B269) is Juror 7.
Merchan again says to this one additional juror now that he's hopeful that by Monday morning, "We'll be ready to go." He gives the boilerplate instructions and says, "I'll see you Monday, thank you."
by ponchi101 Ah, c'mon. I know we hate the guy but a drawing by an artist can mean anything. It is not undeniable proof that he is napping.
by
skatingfan ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:04 pm
Ah, c'mon. I know we hate the guy but a drawing by an artist can mean anything. It is not undeniable proof that he is napping.
I thought the same thing, but multiple reporters who were inside the court room in different media outlets have reported that Trump appeared to fall asleep during the proceedings.
by ponchi101 That is different. A reported reporting means that person, in theory, saw it. An artist's sketch is a different thing.
And I do believe he fell asleep. Probably ran out of speed.
by
ti-amie ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2024 6:39 pm
That is different. A reported reporting means that person, in theory, saw it. An artist's sketch is a different thing.
And I do believe he fell asleep. Probably ran out of speed.
I see what you did there...
by ti-amie
still via @KlasfeldReports
A Sandoval hearing establishes the permissible scope of cross-examination in order for the defendant to make an informed decision about whether to testify.
The notice shows that, for Trump, the list of prior bad acts, is quite long.
The judge could trim it down, finding some inadmissible. They include:
* Civil fraud judgment
* Gag order violations
* E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse & defamation verdicts
* Sanctions for "frivolous" RICO suit vs. Clinton
* DANY case vs. Trump Org
* NYAG case vs. Trump Foundation
by ti-amie Today they tried screaming about the number of strikes available during voir dire. Even I wondered if they were fully aware that there is a limit to them in NYS. #onlythebestpeople
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2m
Another note
The DA opens his notice with what he calls a "list of all misconduct and criminal acts" to confront Trump with on cross-ex.
It's important to remember: Some civil suits Trump lost accused him of crimes, like E. Jean Carroll's rape case and the NYAG's fraud case.
That's one reason for the need, under NY precedent, for a hearing in Trump's prosecution to determine whether he can be confronted with "criminal acts" with which he hasn't been charged in this case.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
11m
NEWS
A 12-person jury has been selected for Trump's first criminal trial in New York.
After a flurry of peremptory and for-cause challenges, jury selection progressed in a fast and furious fashion.
An alternate already has been chosen.
by
ti-amie Now he has to go to Barron's high school graduation.
by
ti-amie Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Breaking on
@MSNBC
:
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked who the DA's Office plans to call as their first three witnesses. Joshua Steinglass from office refused on the basis that Trump has been tweeting about them.
Judge Merchan said he doesn't blame the DA's office. Blanche said Trump won't tweet about the witnesses — to which Merchan said Blanche can't promise that.
Merchan refused to order the DA's office to name its first three witnesses.
Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
Normally, professional courtesy and sometimes even the judge’s own courtroom procedures would have the lawyers advising as to witness order so both sides can be prepared.
Judge Merchan is clearly signaling to Trump that he isn’t going to let him interfere with these witnesses and their testimony. The defense will just have to figure it out when these witnesses are called.
by patrick Read where Trump is doing his usual delay tactics on FL case saying his main attorney is dealing with the Daniels' case
by ti-amie He also had a phone in court today and his lawyer made him put it away.
by ti-amie Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
Katie's Sidebar:
Ok, so we've got a jury of 12 plus 1 alternate so far.
The jury of 12 is 7 men and 5 women. The alternate is female. Tomorrow, another round of 96 prospective jurors return so ideally we get another 5 alternates.
Next week, scheduling looks like this: both Monday and Tuesday will be court days and trial will be held until 2 pm ET on both dates.
[Trump tried to get Tuesday off and the judge said "no."]
by Owendonovan I'm rather impressed a jury was picked in only 2 days. Sounds like some potential jurors spoke very freely of their distaste for the defendant while he was in the courtroom. Had to be satisfying.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
56m
The afternoon session begins:
Trump has entered the courtroom and is seated at the defense table with his attorneys.
Trump's attorney Emil Bove begins his arguments in the so-called Sandoval hearing, seeking to prevent prosecutors from invoking other prior bad acts on cross-ex if his client takes the stand.
Bove raises the issues in the E. Jean Carroll litigation, noting that the events in that case date back to the 1990s.
He argues Carroll's case is also unrelated to this one.
"Are they making allegations of sexual misconduct?" he asks, referring to the DA. "I don't think so."
Invoking the Carroll case in Trump's criminal trial "pushes the salaciousness to another level," Bove adds.
Such findings, the judge said, appears to fall "squarely" into Sandoval.
The judge reserves decision on all of the Sandoval-related matters, promising to provide a ruling by Monday morning.
Reminder:
These Sandoval issues matter ONLY if Trump takes the witness stand, determining the permissible scope of cross-examination.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Trump's attorney Susan Necheles pushes again to get the names of the DA's first few witnesses, saying they need to be ready for trial.
Justice Merchan says they won't delay that trial.
Necheles: "We don't want to."
Merchan (emphatically): "You won't."
Prosecutor:
"We are not supplying the names of the witness to a defendant who contumaciously"* assails witnesses on social media.
The judge calls that explanation compelling.
As what the prosecutor calls a courtesy, he agrees to release one witness name to the defense's counsel on Monday.
But if it's tweeted, that won't happen again, he says.
* Note new what we used to call 50 cent word
by ti-amie Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
NEW: Trump’s application to the appellate court for a stay pending resolution of his change of venue motion has just been DENIED.
On his way out of court Trump is asked by media if he will testify and he answers: “Yes.”
by Fastbackss Contumaciously - wow - that's worth more than four bits
by ponchi101 Had to look it up, I admit:
Contumacy is a stubborn refusal to obey authority or, particularly in law, the willful contempt of the order or summons of a court.
Like, perfect explanation.
by ti-amie
Ryan Goodman@rgoodlaw
9/9 The NYT scoop (in first post in this tweet thread) is by Ben Protess and
@Jonesieman
.
<end>
by ponchi101 The first witness in a trial about a former president paying a porn star some money is called Pecker.
Can't make stuff like that up. Just can't.
by
ti-amie
This is a truly remarkable development. Court stenographers control their work and charge varying rates. The transcript is never dropped into the case file.
It can be *$6.50 per page* a day for these "daily" transcripts. A day can be 200 pages = $1,300 a day.
To clarify, a transcript *may* end up in a criminal paper case file in NY state courts but it never is automatically added as a part of the record.
Please note: Transcripts will be posted …** before the end of the next business day. **
If you’d like to get the news sooner, or immediately, you’ll need to read your friendly neighborhood courts reporter.
But are the stenos still paid? Oh, yes.
“Immediate” or same-day transcripts cost even more than “dailies” and can run $7.50/page. I’ll bet the DA & Trump are getting them.
Many reporters are also paying for immediate transcripts to factcheck ASAP & bring you the news.
by
ti-amie Opening Statements in Trump’s Criminal Trial: Five Takeaways
Prosecutors signaled a sweeping case and Donald J. Trump’s lawyers began their assault on witnesses’ credibility. The judge seems intent on expediting the first trial of an American president.
Former President Donald J. Trump’s behavior was muted compared with how he has acted during past Manhattan court appearances.Credit...Pool photo by Victor J. Blue
By Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek
April 22, 2024
Updated 5:35 p.m. ET
The prosecution has a big story to tell.
The charges faced by Mr. Trump may sound bland — “falsifying business records” doesn’t really set the heart racing — but the prosecution made clear on Monday that it plans on painting a much broader picture.
Matthew Colangelo, a prosecutor, laid out in his opening statement a tale that touched on tabloid journalism, tawdry affairs and covertly recorded phone calls. Jurors will likely be told about events inside fancy hotel rooms, Trump Tower and even the Oval Office. And the stakes? The presidency.
All that suggests that the case will keep jurors wide-awake during the six or so weeks it is projected to take. Indeed, when asked if they wanted paper and pens to take notes, more than half of the people in the jury box (12 jurors and six alternates) raised their hands.
The defense wants to destroy prosecution witnesses.
Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, used his opening statement to cast Mr. Trump’s actions leading to this case as run-of-the-mill business, and said that Mr. Trump is defending himself at trial, just as “any of us would do.”
He argued that the use of a nondisclosure agreement — the document Ms. Daniels signed after receiving the payment — was typical among the wealthy and the famous and “nothing illegal.” He continued that there was nothing wrong with trying to influence an election, adding: “It’s called democracy.”
Mr. Blanche also attacked Mr. Cohen, a former lawyer and fixer for Mr. Trump. He said Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance crimes in 2018, was a “criminal” who “can’t be trusted.” He added that Ms. Daniels was “biased” against Mr. Trump and made a living off her story about the sexual encounter.
He called the heart of the prosecution case just “34 pieces of paper” that don’t involve Mr. Trump.
Trump was muted during the abbreviated day in court.
On Mr. Trump’s way into the courtroom on Monday, he addressed reporters for about three minutes and blasted a range of perceived enemies, including New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, and the judge in a recent civil fraud case that resulted in a $454 million judgment against him.
But Mr. Trump’s behavior during opening statements reflected that he understood the gravity of the moment.
Mr. Trump made no outbursts during the prosecution’s opening statement, although he occasionally showed displeasure: He shook his head slightly at arguments that he orchestrated a scheme to corrupt the presidential election and then more strenuously when prosecutors said he was guilty of felonies.
During his own side’s opening statement, Mr. Trump sat largely motionless and expressionless watching his lawyer Mr. Blanche. Mr. Trump’s behavior was muted compared with his volatility during past Manhattan court appearances.
But at the conclusion of the trial day, Mr. Trump took his preferred spot in front of a television camera in the hallway, and spoke for more than nine minutes, attacking the prosecutor’s case — once again — as unfair.
David Pecker used to live on celebrity news. Now, he is the news.
Prosecutors’ first witness was David Pecker, the longtime publisher of The National Enquirer. He ambled to the stand and promptly gave a lesson in the ways of tabloid journalism, including the purchasing of articles — anything more than $10,000, he had to approve — and the significance of putting a famous face right out front.
“The only thing that was important is the cover of a magazine,” Mr. Pecker testified.
In about 30 minutes of testimony, Mr. Pecker also laid out trade secrets on sourcing, saying hotel workers and limo drivers could be a font of information on the rich and famous.
He seemed at ease: laughing at a prosecutor’s jokes, and sometimes directly addressing the jury just a few feet away.
We’re moving right along.
Over the past five trial days, the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan, has shown that he is eager to keep this trial on schedule. He seems serious about keeping his word to the jurors that the trial will last six weeks.
On Monday, truncated by a juror’s dental emergency and the Passover holiday, he decided to start with the first witness — Mr. Pecker — despite having only half an hour left on his schedule.
On Tuesday, the court will first consider a prosecution motion to hold Mr. Trump in contempt over recent comments that they say violated a gag order meant to keep him from attacking participants in the trial and their families.
Then, Mr. Pecker will continue on the stand, probably diving deeper into the “catch-and-kill” scheme used to buy up — and cover up — unflattering stories, a central element of the prosecution’s narrative.
Court will end early again, at 2 p.m., for further observance of Passover and then will have its weekly Wednesday break.
But there is little indication that as the weeks pass, Justice Merchan will let the pace slacken.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/nyre ... aways.html
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
With trial adjourning today at 12:30 a.m.,(sic) we're only going to get a little bit of David Pecker on the witness stand.
We're back.
Prosecution: "The People call David Pecker."
Pecker raises his right hand to be sworn. He swears to tell the truth and is seated.
Pecker, 72, provides some biographical information. He's married, and he now does consulting work.
After seeing that Jurors do not currently have notepads, the judge asks those who want them to raise their hands.
Their hands immediately shoot up — a studious bunch.
They are provided with them.
Pecker describes AMI and its composite companies, including The National Enquirer, Globe, InStyle, Us Weekly, Star and others.
Pecker on assigning budgets for stories:
"We used checkbook journalism, and we paid for stories."
ADA Josh Steinglass asks if he had "final say" on stories editorially.
"Yes, I did," Pecker says, without hesitation.
Steinglass: Did you participate in editor meetings?
Pecker: Yes, I participated in all of them.
Asked if the National Enquirer was AMI's best-known tabloids, Pecker says: "Yes."
The prosecutor asks Pecker about the last four digits of his phone number.
Pecker gets it wrong at first, and in seeking to jog his memory, blurts out the whole number, only somewhat under his breath.
Steinglass notes Pecker gave more than the last four, and he chuckles.
Q: Are you here today pursuant to a subpoena?
A: Yes, I am.
Q: Are you represented by counsel?
A: Yes, I am.
Pecker is now being questioned about the Enquirer's former editor-in-chief Dylan Howard.
Asked whether Howard ran any decision to run a "juicy story" by him, Pecker says he did.
(Tweet edited for clarity.)
That's the end of the first day of former President Trump's criminal trial, which breaks early today in observance of the Passover holiday.
After the jury leaves, Trump's attorney Emil Bove renews an objection about David Pecker's testimony about Dylan Howard on relevance and hearsay grounds.
Prosecutors say it is admissible under an exception for witness availability.
"Your objection is noted," Merchan says.
Bove anticipates that prosecutors may invoke AMI's non-prosecution agreement with the SDNY. He says the defense will request a limiting instruction at that time.
The judge requests proposed instructions this afternoon.
The polygraph administered to Stormy Daniels was inadmissible, and the defense wants the same logic to apply to Dino Sajudin.
Prosecutors say they do not plan to cite either polygraph.
Bove says the last issue relates to records relating to Pecker or some other custodian at AMI, including emails.
Also text message exchanges.
* Typo.
That clearly should be "p.m."
by ti-amie
I guess he'll have to pay to have them bussed in from Long Island, Staten Island and New Jersey
by ti-amie Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
All of the lawyers have gone to discuss some issues with Judge Merchan before the contempt hearing gets started. Trump remains seated all by himself at counsel's table.
Katie's Sidebar: It's interesting to see Trump when he is alone at the defense table. He is not able to come and go as he pleases. He is required to be present while court is in session.
But let's be clear: Trump waived his right to be present at sidebars. He originally claimed he wanted to participate, but then said "no, thanks."
9:40 AM · Apr 23, 2024
by ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
8h
This is the current language of the order.
Expect it to be parsed, in molecular fashion, during the morning session.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
7h
Merchan:
"Two matters have been called into the record.
On April 15, prosecutors "asked this court to sign an order to show cause" on allegations that Trump violated the gag order on three occasions.
On April 18, they did so again on seven more alleged violations.
ADA Christopher Conroy:
The court found the "types of extrajudicial statements" Trump made pose a "very real threat" to the integrity of the proceedings.
Yesterday, "here in this building, right outside those doors [...] the defendant violated the order again on camera."
Conroy says prosecutors will be filing another application for an order to show cause "on this violation later today."
The prosecutor says Trump seems to think: "No one is off-limits to this defendant, and he can attack and intimidate any one he wants."
by ti-amie
Conroy:
"We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty."
"Defendant seems to be angling for that."
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
·
6h
The judge clarifies next week's schedule to the jury:
"Next Monday, we are not meeting at all."
"Tuesday, we will be working all day."
Ex-AMI chief David Packer is back on the stand, and his testimony continues.
Q: Are you personally family with Donald J. Trump?
A: Yes.
Q: How long have you known him?
Since the late-'80s, he replies.
(...)
Pecker says Trump congratulated him on the purchase of the National Enquirer.
"Congratulations, you bought a great magazine."
Testimony turns to The Apprentice.
Pecker says Trump was always "kind enough" to send information about the show and its ratings to him.
"It was a great, mutually beneficial relationship," Pecker reflects.
Pecker:
The audience of the National Enquirer and other celebrity magazines followed the show "religiously."
Mr. Trump was always "kind enough" to give him the information "first."
Pecker says he considered Trump a friend.
"I would call him Donald."
Asked how often he saw Trump, Pecker responds "maybe once a month, or once or twice a quarter," until 2015.
Then, once Trump announced his run for the presidency, Pecker says: "I saw Mr. Trump more frequently, maybe once a month."
Q: Did you ever communicate with Mr. Trump through his bodyguard?
A: Yes, I have.
The bodyguard's name was Keith Schiller, he says.
More on him here, @Just_Security
Q: Did you visit Mr. Trump at Trump Tower on multiple occasions?
A: Over the years?
Q: Over the years.
A: Yes.
Pecker says he'd describe Trump as "very knowledgeable," "detailed," and almost a "micro-manager."...
Pecker says his contact with Michael Cohen increased after Trump announced his candidacy.
They would communicate a "minimum of every week," and if there was an issue, it could be daily.
Testimony turns to Hope Hicks.
Hicks once worked for Ivanka Trump, Pecker notes.
Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass shows the witness an exhibit, privately at first.
Pecker inspects the exhibit on the screen through his glasses.
It's an email from Pecker to Cohen, dated June 2, 2015, he says.
Pecker:
"I walked into Trump Tower. Michael Cohen was waiting in the atrium."
He recalls Trump and Melania coming down the escalator before Trump announced his candidacy.
Pecker delivers blockbuster account of Trump Tower meeting with Trump and Cohen:
Trump “asked me what can I do and what my magazines can do to help the campaign."
Pecker said he could "publish positive stories about Trump" and "negative stories about his opponents."
(cont'd)
Pecker also says he told Trump:
"I would be your eyes and ears, because I knew that the Trump Organization has a very small staff." [...]
"Anything I hear negative about yourself, and anything negative that I hear about women selling stories, I would notify Michael Cohen, and he would be able to have them killed" in another magazine.
Pecker mentioned the "women selling stories" line, unprompted.
ADA Steinglass pressed him on the line later.
Pecker explains that, at the time, Trump was known as "the most eligible bachelor."
(Note: Trump married his third wife Melania in 2005.)...
Trying to pierce Pecker's claim that the arrangement was mutually beneficial, ADA Steinglass notes that catch-and-kill of the alleged affairs didn't benefit AMI's magazines.
Q: The purpose of that component was to benefit the campaign?
Pecker agrees.
Pecker says the agreement was never formalized.
"It was just an agreement among friends," Pecker says.
He estimates that the meeting lasted between 20 and 25 minutes.
Pecker says he told the National Enquirer's then-editor-in-chief Dylan Howard that the arrangement was "Highly, highly confidential."
Pecker inspects another exhibit: Enquirer headlines praising Trump.
Pecker inspects another exhibit: Enquirer headlines trashing Trump's rivals.
"My conversations with Michael Cohen, and Michael Cohen would call me and say, 'We would like for you to write a negative article on [...] let's say, for the sake of argument, Ted Cruz..."
Pecker:
"... or Ben Carson, and we would embellish it from there."
He clarifies that, "we," here, is the National Enquirer.
Pecker elaborates on Cohen's instructions on whom "we would like" the Enquirer to write a negative story about:
"Since Michael Cohen wasn't part of the campaign, I though he was talking about himself and Mr. Trump."
Asked about his understanding of Cohen's relationship to the campaign, Pecker says: "He always told me that he was not part of the campaign."
Pecker, on the chain of command:
"I would only work with Michael, and so I don't know who else he spoke to."
Exhibit
The National Enquirer's headline attacking Trump's rival, then rising in the polls: "BUNGLING SURGEON BEN CARSON LEFT SPONGE IN PATIENT'S BRAIN."
Another Enquirer headline:
TED CRUZ SHAMED BY PORN STAR
Pecker says the Enquirer would send PDFs of the stories before they ran to Cohen, who would give comments on them before publication.
Asked if Cohen ever spoke about getting ideas about the articles from "the boss," Pecker demurs: "I don't recollect that."
More Enquirer headline exhibits slamming Cruz:
"TED CRUZ SEX SCANDAL — 5 SECRET MISTRESSES"
"DONALD TRUMP BLASTS TED CRUZ'S DAD FOR PHOTO WITH JFK ASSASSIN"
Pecker gives the backstory of these, from circa spring 2016.
Q: Did Steve Bannon ever pitch any articles to the National Enquirer?
Pecker said that Bannon proposed that a National Enquirer reporter should go on the Hannity show.
Defense: Objection.
Judge: Sustained. Stricken.
The prosecutor repeats the question to elicit a more responsive answer.
Another objection by the defense.
The parties discuss it at sidebar.
At the end of the sidebar, the judge announces that the court will take a short break, and jurors are briefly excused from the courtroom.
Pecker's questioning resumes.
Q: Are business emails relied upon in making business decisions?
A: Yes, they are.
The prosecutor asks a number of question laying for the foundation for introducing emails and text messages into evidence.
Bove objects to the admission of the exhibits on hearsay and other grounds.
After a sidebar, Justice Merchan overrules an objection from Trump's defense.
Questioning turns to Dino Sajudin, the doorman who peddled the false story that Trump fathered a child out of wedlock.
by ti-amie Pecker:
"Dino was in the market selling the story that Donald Trump fathered an illegitimate girl with a maid" at Trump Tower.
Pecker said he ran the story by Michael Cohen, who replied the story was "Absolutely not true — but I'll check it out."
Pecker had been about to refer to the plan to polygraph Dino Sajudin, a topic that's inadmissible:
"Don't say that," Steinglass reminds him.
The prosecutor needs to cut him off again later on the same issue.
Pecker says he spoke about the payoff of Sajudin with Michael Cohen, who asked: "Who's going to pay for it?"
"I'll pay for it," Pecker recalls him saying.
"He said, 'The boss will be very pleased,'" a remark Pecker sees he understood to be "Donald Trump."
Pecker agrees that he never before paid money, let alone $30,000, to not publish a story.
"If the story came back true, I would publish the story shortly after it was verified," Pecker said.
Q: Before or after the election?
A: After the election.
The agreement with Sajudin is entered into evidence and displayed on screens inside the courtroom.
The contract called for Sajudin to receive the $30,000 within five days.
"We discovered that [the story was] absolutely, 1,000% untrue," Pecker says.
Q: So why are we paying $30,000 for an untrue story?
A: If it got out to another media outlet, it would be very embarrassing to the campaign.
Q: So it was a way to lock it up.
A: That is correct.
Asked about the clause indicating AMI's exclusivity period extended "in perpetuity," Pecker says: "That means that we own the story forever."
Q: Is [$30,000] a typical sum for a source?
A: No, it's not.
Pecker notes it's much larger, ranging from $250 to $5,000, or maybe up to $10,000 for a bigger celebrity.
Trump's defense objects to the next email flashed on the screens.
It's taken down, and the parties approach for a sidebar.
Justice Merchan rules that the exhibit can be displayed, "subject to the redaction we discussed" at sidebar.
It's an email from a reporter to an accounts payable employee.
The email:
"This serves as an invoice for immediate $30,000 [...] bank transfer payment from AMI to source Dino G. Sajudin regarding 'Trump' non-published story."
The email also refers to AMI's general counsel Cameron Stracher...
Once confident the story was false, Pecker wanted to release Sajudin from the NDA, and he says Michael Cohen couldn't understand why when he told him that.
Pecker says he told Cohen having Sajudin "locked in" was "only going to cause us more problems."
According to Pecker, Cohen asked, "When?"
"I said, 'I'd like to release [Sajudin] now,'" Pecker testifies.
Pecker says Cohen responded, "No," pushing AMI to release Sajudin "after the election."
by ti-amie Questioning turns to Karen McDougal:
"I called Michael Cohen and I told Michael Cohen exactly what Dylan [Howard] told me about this Playboy model."
Cohen said that was not true, "absolutely" not true.
Pecker said, "Wait a minute," adding they should "vet this story out."
Pecker suggested that he told Cohen "this one is a little different," referring to McDougal's account.
Pecker says Cohen told him that they should not be discussing this over a landline, and they should pivot to Signal, the encrypted app with disappearing messages if activated.
He quips he still doesn't know whether it's true messages are "destroyed" after sending.
Pecker says that McDougal claimed to have had interest in the story from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" — and a Mexican group for $8 million.
The witness says he disbelieved it, but proposed Trump purchase the story anyway.
According to Pecker, Trump told him: “Anything that you ever do anything like this, it always gets out.”
Trial adjourns early today once again, in observance of the second night of the Passover holiday.
This allows any observant attorneys and jurors to attend seders, traditionally taking place on the first two nights.
After a brief exchange with Trump's attorney Emil Bove on a housekeeping matter, Justice Merchan adjourns proceedings entirely.
No ruling from the bench on the pending contempt matter.
Trump and his team file out of the courtroom.
by ti-amie He's his own legal team.
by
ti-amie Fred Wellman
@FPWellman
This is clearly no longer a "hush money" case to cover up the sexual dalliance of a rich man. This is step by step an election interference conspiracy to influence the election. What will make you sick if some journalist will do it is tracing how these fake stories in the Enquirer made their way to mainstream press. They lapped this (expletive) up.
I don't think the prosecutors asked who was the source of some of these stories for no reason. That may be why some are saying TFG should start asking about a deal. Pecker's testimony was devastating.
by ti-amie Tristan Snell
@TristanSnell
Hillary Clinton. Ben Carson. Ted Cruz.
All could have defamation claims against Trump and the Enquirer now
How? Weren’t the defamatory statements 7-9 yrs ago?
The “discovery rule” — a statute of limitations clock does not start until plaintiffs discovered their claims
Oops.
by ti-amie Some legal speculation around holding TFG in criminal contempt.
by ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
Pecker said that the tip about Karen McDougal came from her attorney Keith Davidson, whom he describes as "one of the major sources for [then-Enquirer editor in chief] Dylan Howard."
"So I thought that this story should be purchased."
Pecker says that Trump told him about McDougal:
"Karen is a nice girl. Is it true that a Mexican group is trying to buy the story for $8 million?"
Pecker says he didn't believe it.
But Pecker said the "nice girl" remark confirmed his suspicion that Trump knew her.
Pecker says Michael Cohen told him: "You should go ahead and buy this story."
"I am going to have Dylan Howard negotiate the terms," Pecker said he responded, before asking: "Who's going to pay for it?"
Cohen: "Don't worry. I'm your friend. The Boss will take care of it."
Pecker describes receiving updates on the negotiations:
"Dylan Howard gave me the following terms: To purchase the lifetime rights for Karen McDougal would cost $150,000."
But McDougal also wanted to "restart her career."
Pecker:
McDougal also wanted to write for the celebrity magazines and appear on fitness titles.
She also wanted to launch a clothing line, a beauty product, and she wanted to be an anchor for the red carpet events.
But Pecker says, for him, the biggest concern was the money, and he raised the topic again to Cohen.
"He said, ‘You should pay.’"
"I said, 'Michael, why should I pay?'"
Pecker says he told Cohen he already paid for Sajudin.
Pecker says he told Cohen:
"Now, you’re asking me to pay $150K for the Karen story and all of these additional items that she wants to do."
Pecker says Cohen replied: “Don’t worry about it. I'm your friend. The Boss will take care of it.”
Exhibit: Invoice for the McDougal payoff.
Dated Aug. 9, 2016, it lists AMI as the subsidiary and Keith M. Davison & Associates, PLC as the vendor of a $150,000 transfer.
Exhibit: The payment voucher for the $150,000.
It's dated Aug. 9, 2016—and sent to the firm of McDougal's lawyer Keith Davidson.
Asked if he ever had any intention to print Karen McDougal's story, Pecker responds: "No, we never did."
He agrees that he was aware that he had an obligation to comply with campaign-finance laws.
As the prosecutor pursues this line of questioning, the defense objects.
The parties approach the bench for a sidebar conference debating this legal issue, out of earshot from the jury.
Justice Merchan: "The objection is overruled."
Asked if he or AMI ever reported the McDougal payoff as a campaign contribution, Pecker says: "No, we did not."
"We purchased the story so that it wouldn't be published by any other organization.
Pecker:
"We didn't want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign."
Asked if he would have entered into the agreement had Michael Cohen not promised to reimburse him, Pecker responds: "No."
Pecker explains how Cohen's reassurances allayed his concerns about the arrangement, quoting him as saying:
"Why worry? I'm your friend. The Boss will take care of it."
Pecker said Cohen called him "constantly in the month of September" to send the files and boxes over to him.
"The Boss said that if I got hit by a bus, or if the company was sold, he didn't want someone else to potentially publish those stories."
David Pecker lays the foundation to enter an invoice into the record, in a series of questions and answers.
It is admitted into evidence.
t relates to Resolution Consultants LLC, a shell company created by Michael Cohen to reimburse AMI for Karen McDougal's story.
The description of services in the invoice refers to that as: "Agreed upon 'flat fee' for advisory services."
Next exhibit: The assignment agreement
AMI assigned the rights to McDougal's story to Resolution Consultants LLC on Sept. 30, 2016, for $125,000.
The agreement was signed, but it was not actually executed, Pecker says.
Pecker says that he had a conversation with counsel, and decided that he did not want to follow through with the agreement—and told Cohen that.
"I'm not going forward. It's a bad idea, and I want you to rip up the agreement," Pecker told Cohen, according to his testimony.
Pecker says of Cohen's reaction:
"He was very very angry, very upset, screaming at me basically." [...]
"Cohen said, 'The Boss is going to be very angry at you.'"
But Pecker said he stuck to his guns: "I said I'm not going forward. The deal is off."
(Morning Recess)
Before the jury comes in, the judge excludes blockbuster text messages following evidentiary arguments.
Prosecutors say Dylan Howard texted a relative: "At least if he wins I’ll be pardoned for electoral fraud."
But that raised Confrontation Clause issues, the judge finds.
Prosecutors also said they wanted texts messages in of Dylan Howard quoted saying:
"Trump victory imminent."
"He’s just been named president-elect. Oh dear."
All excluded by the judge.
After the judge declines for now to let the messages in, David Pecker takes the stand again.
by ti-amie "All rise."
The jury enters and takes their seats.
Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass resumes his direct examination.
Questioning turns to AMI releasing Dino Sajudin from his non-disclosure agreement.
Asked if he remembers the "Access Hollywood" tape coming out, Pecker says:
"I do. It was very embarrassing, very damaging for the campaign."
Email exhibit:
After the "Access Hollywood" tape, Pecker said he spoke with Cohen and learned about the campaign's concerns about an old Radar Online article titled "Donald Trump, Playboy Man."
Radar is an AMI property.
In an email, the publication's then-chief content officer Dylan Howard wrote of that article: "I've deleted the story completely. It doesn't exist."
Questioning turns to Stormy Daniels.
Pecker said he thought the arrangement with a "porn star" would be damaging to the AMI brand, and he said that he told Dylan Howard of the proposed hush-money payment:
"I am not a bank, and we are not paying out any more disbursements of monies."
Pecker says Michael Cohen was "upset" about AMI demurring from paying off Stormy Daniels:
"He said that The Boss would be furious," Pecker says, adding that Cohen urged him to go forward in buying Daniels' story.
Pecker said he emphasized he would not, "Period."
Pecker says he told Cohen:
"I am not paying for this story. I didn't want to be involved with this from the beginning."
But Pecker says he advised Cohen to purchase the story because "if it gets out, I believe The Boss is going to be very angry with you."
Questioning turns to the
@WSJ
scoop on Karen McDougal:
"National Enquirer Shielded Donald Trump from Playboy Model’s Affair Allegation," which came out before the election.
Pecker said it sparked a tense phone call with Trump on Nov. 5, 2016, three days before election day
The call ended "very abruptly," Pecker says.
Pecker, later in his testimony:
"I wanted to protect AMI. I wanted to protect myself, and I also wanted to protect Donald Trump."
After the WSJ article, Pecker says AMI amended the hush-money agreement because Karen McDougal was getting "bombarded" with press inquiries.
She wanted to speak without penalty.
Cohen said "it was a very bad idea" and "The Boss would be very angry."
Cohen recommended that Pecker not release McDougal.
Q: Did you take that advice?
A: No, I did not.
"Q: Why did you want to allow Ms. McDougal to speak to the press at this point?
A: I thought that the Wall Street Journal article already set the stage and the tone of what this story is, and I wanted to keep some sense of control around this story."
Pecker says he also wanted a PR rep for McDougal who reported to AMI.
Next exhibit:
The amended agreement between AMI and McDougal, signed by her on Nov. 29, 2016, and by a company representative on Dec. 7, 2016.
Pecker describes Michael Cohen complaining about not being reimbursed yet:
"Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels out of his own funds, which was the first time I heard of that. I wasn't involved in the transaction."
Pecker describes a conversation in Trump's office:
"I said Michael Cohen is very concerned about his bonus for this year, and I wanted you to do that he's very loyal."
He said Cohen was working very hard.
"I believe that he would throw himself in front of a bus for you."
Pecker said that Trump responded that Cohen had multiple apartments in his buildings and valuable taxi medallions.
"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it," Trump added, according to Pecker.
(Note: Those medallions would later figure in Cohen's prosecution.)
Pecker says Trump told him: "I wanted to thank you for taking care of the McDougal situation," then said something similar about him "taking care of the doorman situation."
Asked by the prosecutor whether Trump's concern about the stories getting out was primarily about his family or the campaign, Pecker responds:
"I thought it was for the campaign."
Q: After Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency, did he ever express concern for how [...] Melania Trump would think of his affairs?
A: No.
Q: You said he invited you to the inauguration?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you go?
A: No.
Lunch recess.
by ti-amie Back at 2:15p
Trump is back in the courtroom, appearing to sharply exhale when he reached the defense table before sitting down.
The parties argue an evidentiary issue about Dylan Howard's text messages with Stormy Daniels' agent Gina Rodriguez.
ADA Steinglass: "Mr. Howard is a co-conspirator, and these are statements in furtherance of the conspiracy."
Steinglass adds that the messages go to a "core part of the conspiracy."
They are 15 pages of texts, the judge said.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Pecker's testimony continues:
Q: Did there come a time when you visited the White House?
A: Yes, I did.
Pecker:
Trump invited me to the White House for dinner, describing it as a "'thank you' dinner"
Pecker says Trump told him:
"Bring your friends [and] business associates. It's your dinner."
Pecker took Trump up on the invitation, bringing along Howard and Rothstein.
"Jared Kushner was there. Sean Spicer was there."
All of the people he brought were able to take a photo with Trump in the Oval Office, he says.
Photo exhibits:
* Dylan Howard in the White House
* David Pecker and Trump walking into the White House, where he said they were having a conversation about Karen McDougal
Email from Dylan Howard to Keith Davidson dated July 12, 20217:
"Surreal last night," the three-word body of the email reads, referring to the dinner.
Pecker says that Karen McDougal seemed "a little upset" during a lunch.
The articles were taking a while.
She hadn't received media training as a red carpet anchor.
"So, she was stating what she'd like to get done."
Pecker said the purpose of the meeting was to make sure they were complying to the agreement.
"I wanted her to remain within our (pause) family, I should say."
That was a pregnant pause before the "family."
According to Pecker, Trump got angry after seeing Anderson Cooper interviewing McDougal. Trump said that he thought there was an agreement forbidding her from speaking to the press.
Pecker replied: "Yes, we have an agreement but I amended it to allow her to speak to the press."
Pecker says Trump got “mad” and couldn’t understand why Pecker amended the agreement.
At some point, the FEC contacted Pecker about his activities with AMI.
Pecker said that Michael Cohen tried to reassure him: "Jeff Sessions is the attorney general and Donald Trump has him in his pocket."
But Pecker wasn't reassured: "I'm very worried."
Questioning turns to AMI's non-prosecution deal with federal prosecutors.
The prosecutor shows him the agreement.
Justice Merchan recites a curative instruction that jurors cannot use the non-prosecution agreement for any purpose, other than to assess David Pecker's credibility.
They cannot use it as evidence of Trump's guilt.
Pecker has been reciting his various agreements with law enforcement.
After reading various portions of the NPA — linked higher in the thread — Pecker recites his agreements with the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
That agreement immunizes Pecker if he fulfills the agreement to cooperate truthfully.
Here's how Pecker says he learned about the FBI raid on Michael Cohen:
"The FBI came to my home on the same day and had a search warrant on my phone."
Dylan Howard then called him to say the same happened to him, and Howard told him about Cohen, according to Pecker.
Asked if he has any ill-will toward Trump, Pecker emphatically answers in the negative.
"On the contrary, [...] I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor. He helped me out throughout my career."
After Pecker gives a post-9/11 closing anecdote about his friendship with Trump, the prosecution's direct examination ends.
Team Trump will have the opportunity to cross examine the witness next.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
Questioning for Trump is Emil Bove.
Observation:
Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche has been quiet in court all day, since the judge dressed him down during Tuesday's proceedings.
Bove, his fellow Southern District of New York alum, has taken the lead most of the day.
Bove questions Pecker about "checkbook journalism."
"You only published about half of the stories that you purchased?" he asks.
Pecker agrees.
Pecker also agrees that it's standard for those agreements to obligate sources not to disclose their stories to other outlets.
Bove calls these kind of source agreements "standard operating procedure," and Pecker agrees.
Pecker agrees that he had not heard phrase "catch-and-kill" before the investigation.
Q: The first time you heard that phrase is from a prosecutor, right?
A: That is correct.
Asking about politicians trying to get favorable coverage to win an election, Bove says there's "nothing surprising about that, yes?"
Pecker agrees.
Bove turns to AMI's purchase of a story about Tiger Woods, about a woman meeting him in a parking lot in Florida.
"All of the investigative work was done internally," Pecker says.
Pecker agrees that AMI used the information to leverage it against Woods for access.
Pecker concedes he's also suppressed stories about Mark Wahlberg and Rahm Emanuel.
Bove pointedly asks whether he's gotten FEC scrutiny about Emanuel.
Pecker agrees he hasn't.
Bove latches onto a discrepancy in Pecker's grand jury testimony, on whether the Trump Tower meeting was early- or mid-August.
First, Bove asks the question accusingly with flashes of his prosecutorial experience.
Then, he adopts an empathetic tone about the nature of memory.
Bove's stick-and-carrot approach—over a minor detail of what part of a month a meeting took place—cues Pecker to concede it's difficult to precisely remember events from nearly a decade ago.
Pecker holds firm on the crux of his testimony:
"What I said under oath is the truth. That's all I plan on doing today."
Pushing back at Bove's suggestion, Pecker says, softly but decisively: "It's not a script."
Pecker agrees that Cohen acted as an intermediary for potentially negative stories.
Bove notes that Cohen worked for Trump for at least eight years before the Trump Tower meeting.
Prosecutor objects, and the parties approach the bench for a sidebar, after Trump's counsel mentions David Pecker's testimony before the federal grand jury.
So ends trial proceedings for the day.
The judge is excusing the jury with their daily instructions.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Post-trial proceedings:
Prosecution accuses Trump's counsel of improper impeachment, leading to an exchange where Emil Bove tests the judge's patience.
Merchan: "Mr. Bove, are you missing my point? Because I don't think you're responding to what I'm saying."
News—
As proceedings end, Justice Merchan announces he's signed the order to show cause on Trump's four latest alleged gag order violations.
He's scheduled a hearing on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. ET
ETA:
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
The big questions:
Does Justice Merchan rule on the first 10 alleged violations before that hearing, and if he does, does he warn Trump about possible imprisonment for further violations in that ruling?
by ti-amie I'm sticking with Klasfeld for now because almost every legal analyst is using his live tweets in theirs.
by ti-amie Unless noted all live tweeting is by @adamklasfeld
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
"All rise."
Justice Juan Merchan enters the courtroom and goes to the bench.
He announces that the next hearing on the latest alleged gag order violations has been rescheduled for Thursday.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass addresses an issue where cross-ex left off yesterday: improper impeachment.
Trump's lawyer Emil Bove suggested that Pecker shifted his story on seeing Hope Hicks at the Trump Tower meeting in 2015.
Bove handed Pecker a doc that didn't say that.
Bove says he will address it at the start of cross ex today.
Steinglass also suggests that Bove had been muddying the water when questioning Pecker about his interviews with law enforcement.
The prosecutor wants Bove to specify which law enforcement meetings — federal or state — in his questions.
Pecker enters and takes the stand.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Justice Merchan instructs the jury that the law "permits" prosecutors to speak to witnesses before trial.
It's a "normal part" of preparing for trial, "as long as it's not suggested that the witness depart" from saying the truth.
Bove begins cross-ex.
As promised before the proceedings began, Bove apologizes to Pecker for the "confusion" in his question about seeing Hope Hicks.
Bove questions Pecker more about Hope Hicks, and his meeting with federal prosecutors on July 2018.
When Bove gets close to the same territory that got him in trouble on Thursday, prosecutors object.
Sustained.
Pecker agrees with Bove's suggestions that running the stories was beneficial to AMI — and standard operating procedure.
Q: There's already negative public information in the public domain about Ben Carson, and you ran it in the National Enquirer.
A: Yes.
Bove asks a series of questions about the value of The National Enquirer drawing from a network of sources that they cultivated.
Bove shows Pecker this passage from a WSJ article:
"Since last year, the Enquirer has supported Mr. Trump's presidential bid, endorsing him and publishing negative articles about some of his opponents.'
He appears to suggest the public knew about the tabloid's support.
Pecker confirms that neither Trump nor Cohen ever paid him any money for either the Sajudin or McDougal stories.
Trump's attorney pivots to Sajudin's story.
Q: If this story was true, it was worth a lot of money, right?
A: Yes.
Pecker agrees with Bove's characterization that it would have been the "biggest National Enquirer story ever."
Context:
Pecker also testified during direct examination that, even if it was verified, the Enquirer would have sat on the story until after the election.
Pecker agrees that Sajudin threatened to sell the story elsewhere, and that affected the sky-high price tag on the story.
Trump's lawyer suggests that Pecker signed the deal because he believed there was a small possibility that it was true.
Q: You could not walk away from that possibility, however small that might be?
Pecker agrees.
Bove tells Pecker that Karen McDougal did not want to publish her story, but rather to restart her career.
Pecker agrees.
Bove tries to complicate Pecker's story about Trump's phone call about Karen McDougal.
During the case, Pecker said Trump asked whether a Mexican group wanted to buy it for $8 million. Pecker dispelled the rumor, but told him to buy it.
But Bove elicits another detail.
Asked by Trump's attorney, Pecker agrees that he recalls telling Trump: "It is my understanding that [McDougal] doesn't want her story published."
The defense likely will use the concession to suggest there wasn't a motive to catch-and-kill her account.
Re-up:
Pecker's testimony on this conversation from Thursday. Trump repeated the rumor about the purported $8M offer from a Mexican group.
Pecker didn't believe it, but he told Trump to pay (much less) for it.
Pecker agrees with the Trump attorney's statement that the agreement had a legitimate business purpose.
Q: When you told Michael Cohen that the agreement was "bulletproof," you meant it, right?
A: Yes, I did.
Q: Because you had legal advice.
A: Yes.
Bove asks a string of questions about Pecker relying on the advice of his lawyers, sparking two objection from the prosecution table.
Both sustained.
After Pecker described Keith Davidson as a "major" attorney, Bove quipped: "Stipulated," sparking loud laughter in the court.
So loud, the court officers respond: "Quiet down!"
Pecker also agrees with the proposition that he was also a big source for The Enquirer.
On Thursday, Pecker testified that he was brought into a Trump's meeting with Comey, Spicer, Priebus and Pompeo, all talking about the then-breaking Ft. Lauderdale shooting in 2017.
Trump joked to the group that Pecker "probably knows more than anybody else in this room."
"Unfortunately, they didn't laugh," Pecker recalled on Thursday, referring to the group's reaction to Trump's joke.
But the jurors did — and the transcript recorded it:
"(Whereupon, the jurors laugh.)"
Bove tried to ask a question about this anecdote, but how he did it prompted an objection from the prosecution table.
Sustained.
Bove asks Pecker about his testimony that Trump told him: "I want to thank you for the doorman story, the doorman situation."
The Trump lawyer suggests Pecker that he got it wrong, but the witness holds firm.
Q: Was that a mistake?
A: No.
Pecker also testified that Trump told him: "I want to thank you for handling the McDougal situation."
But Bove doesn't appear to ask Pecker about that.
Morning recess.
Bove estimates that he has a little less than an hour left of cross-ex.
Prosecutors expect to have redirect.
by ti-amie Justice Merchan is back on the bench.
Trump is seated between his attorneys, more animated than previously.
The witness enters and returns to the stand.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Jurors typically have not glanced at anyone at the defense and prosecution tables — eyes straight forward — as they processed to the jury box.
by ti-amie Cross-ex resumes.
Bove turns to Pecker's meetings with prosecutors.
Pecker pushes back at Trump's lawyers suggestion that the meetings were "stressful," but he acknowledges that he wanted it to be over as soon as possible.
The defense displays AMI's non-prosecution agreement with SDNY.
Bove suggests that there were problems with the company's assets at the time. There were discussions with the Hudson News Group to acquire the National Enquirer.
Q: You knew that to consummate that deal, you had to finalize the investigations, correct?
A: Yes, uh... (pause) yes
Pecker concedes that put some pressure on the negotiations.
"From the tabloid's standpoint, that would have added on to the stress of the transaction," he says.
Pecker, sounding more hesitant than usual, notes the transaction could have closed subject to the investigations being completed.
"There was no drop dead date, that it had to be completed by a certain time," he notes.
Q: If AMI had been indicted, that would have affected the value of its assets?
A: Uh, yes.
Prompted by Trump's lawyer, Pecker notes that AMI was never charged or prosecuted.
Yesterday, Pecker testified: "We admitted to a campaign violation."
But Bove notes "there is no violation in this agreement."
"In this agreement, no," Pecker says.
Bove highlights the passage of the non-prosecution agreement stating the federal government "will not criminally prosecute" AMI.
Asked whether there's an admission to a campaign financial violation in the agreement, Pecker answers: "No."
Trump's lawyer pushes Pecker to say that he didn't understand money to be part of the Trump Tower meeting agreement.
But Pecker pushes back:
"There was a discussion that I was going to be the eyes and ears of the campaign," including notifying Cohen of women selling stories.
Pecker suggests the latter led to the payoffs to the women.
A long sidebar conference follows.
After it ends, Bove asks Pecker about his meeting with the Manhattan DA's office in October 2019.
Bove indignantly asks about Pecker's testimony that Michael Cohen told him Trump had former AG Jeff Sessions "in his pocket."
The attorney says it shows Cohen is "prone to exaggeration."
The line from Trump's attorney sparked an objection, which was initially overruled, until prosecutors asked for a sidebar.
After the huddle, Bove moved on to another topic.
Cross-ex ends.
Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass begins his redirect.
The prosecutor asks about Karen McDougal's contract and Pecker's testimony that its "true purpose" was to smother her story.
Pecker agrees with the prosecutor's statement that the purpose of the provisions about McDougal's career was to establish "plausible deniability."
Steinglass shows Pecker this provision of AMI's non-prosecution agreement.
As the exhibit shows, the deal was signed, but Pecker says he pulled out of the plan after meeting with AMI's general counsel.
Steinglass prompts the witness to agree that assigning McDougal's story to Cohen wasn't in McDougal's contract.
ADA Steinglass: Was it your understanding that when AMI entered into this agreement that AMI admitted that the conduct that it admitted violated federal election law?
Pecker: Yes.
The prosecutor returns to AMI's agreement with doorman Dino Sajudin, asking Pecker about whether it was the company's "standard" agreement to lock up a source.
Pecker said on cross-ex, and now, that it was standard.
But it was amended, the prosecutor notes.
Q: Is it standard for AMI to be consulting with a presidential candidate's fixer about amendments about a source agreement?
A: No.
The amended agreement added a $1 million liquidated damages clause.
Asked if that was "standard," Pecker answers no.
Asked why he added it then, Pecker says it was at Cohen's request.
Pecker testifies that he was aware of Cohen's activities on behalf of the Trump campaign, even though he insisted he wasn't a part of it.
The prosecutor turns to Pecker's testimony that AMI had been involved with "hundreds of thousands" of NDAs.
Asked how many of those NDAs involved coordinating with the campaign of a presidential candidate, Pecker replies it's the only one.
Prosecutor: "Why did AMI spend money to silence [Arnold] Schwartzenegger's accusers?"
Pecker responds that Schwartzenegger was critical to the bodybuilding industry, as well as the supplement industry, and two of their magazines.
The defense latched onto this testimony to suggest that AMI's conduct was standard operating procedure, but Steinglass has Pecker point out the differences.
Schwartzenegger benefited AMI's bottom line, and the episode familiarized it with the campaign-finance repercussions.
Steinglass notes that Pecker was friends with Trump.
Before the Trump Tower meeting in August 2015, AMI did not institutionally attack Trump's political rivals, and Pecker never acted as his "eyes and ears."
Steinglass notes that Pecker did not use the phrase "catch and kill," but the prosecutor prompts the witness to explain what he agreed to do about "women selling stories" at that Trump Tower meeting.
Pecker's answer describes the process for quashing the stories.
Lunch recess.
by ti-amie Good afternoon from New York.
Trump is back at the defense table, and we're waiting for the judge to return to the bench.
Cross ex resumes:
The prosecutor asks about whether the Enquirer's circulation includes everyone glancing at headlines at supermarket checkout counters.
Pecker says no.
The prosecutor showed Pecker a passage from a WSJ article dated Nov. 4, 2016:
"Quashing stories that way is known in the tabloid world as 'catch and kill.'"
Pecker agrees he probably learned about the phrase from the article, not prosecutors.
On Stormy Daniels' story, Pecker reiterates that he did not want AMI to have anything to do with a "porn star."
Pecker said he wasn't going to print it, or buy it, or have anything to do with it, referring to Stormy's story.
He was still, however, going to fulfill his obligation to tell Cohen about it.
Prosecutor Steinglass turns to the questions on cross-ex about alleged discrepancy in notes from the FBI interview.
Bove suggested Pecker didn't mention Trump thanking him for the "doorman situation," but Steinglass says the notes reflect that he did.
Q: Was it the truth then?
A: Yes.
Q: Is it the truth now?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you believe that you have ever been inconsistent on this point?
A: No.
Asked whether anyone from the New York District Attorney's office ever asked him to do anything other than tell the truth, Pecker answers no.
Redirect ends.
Trump's attorney starts re-cross.
Trump's attorney Emil Bove pushes back at the characterization of Enquirer stories as "attack ads": They were "headlines," Bove says.
Pecker agrees.
Before the lunch recess, Pecker agreed with the prosecutor that McDougal's story was "Enquirer gold."
Bove notes that Pecker believed that McDougal did not really want to sell her story, as much as she wanted to restart her career.
Bove notes that McDougal had a lengthy career before the AMI agreement, including as a Playboy model and other credits.
Q: There was real value to her brand, correct?
A: I wouldn't say that there was a value to her brand to a media company.
Asked if he believes Trump cares about his family, Pecker responds: "Of course I do."
Bove asks if he believes the proceedings are stressful to Trump's family.
Prosecution: Objection
Judge: Sustained.
With that, Pecker's testimony concludes.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Up next: Rhona Graff, who was Trump's executive assistant for decades.
Graff's title eventually became "assistant to the President" and then Trump Org senior vice-president.
Assistant DA Susan Hoffinger is questioning her.
Graff is testifying pursuant to a subpoena.
Graff input Trump's appointments in the calendar, including on Outlook.
Hoffinger has an officer hand Graff a thumb drive for identification.
Graff confirms that she dated and initialed the exhibit, which contains emails between her and fellow Trump executive assistant Madeleine Westerhout.
One data point that Graff entered into the Trump Organization's contact info: Stormy Daniels' contact info, which is redacted in the exhibit.
Asked whether she understood Daniels was an adult film actress, Graff replies: "Yes, I did."
Graff scheduled a meeting with Ainsley Earhardt from Fox and Friends on Jan. 17, 2017
It was a busy day:
Trump also had teleprompter practice sessions and a photo shoot for WaPo on that date.
Trump also had a teleprompter practice session on Jan. 18, 2017, the following day.
On Jan. 19, 2017, Trump was flying out from LaGuardia to D.C.
Cross ex by Trump's lawyer Susan Necheles begins:
She lobs some easy questions to the witness.
Graff says Trump was a "good boss."
Graff says that "99% of the time," their discussions were about business.
Prompted by Necheles, Graff adds there were some personal and friendly discussions too. Trump invited her to his inauguration, she says.
"I'd say it was a pretty unique, memorable experience."
Necheles dispenses with the euphemism used by prosecutors for Stormy Daniels' profession — colloquially, she's a "porn star."
Graff (primly): "I'd say that's a good (slight pause) synonym."
Q: No one from the Trump Organization told you how to testify?
A: Absolutely not.
Graff's testimony concludes.
Afternoon recess.
by
ti-amie Next witness:
Gary Farro, who was a senior managing director at First Republic Bank back in 2016
That's the bank Michael Cohen used to obtain a $130,000 home equity loan, which Cohen then funneled to Stormy Daniels' lawyer through a shell company, per prosecutors.
Farro now works at Flagstar Bank.
After the witness says he's here "voluntarily," the prosecutor asks: "Are you sure?"
He says he also received a subpoena.
Farro on how he lost his job:
"In March of last year, First Republic Bank was one of the banks that went under with Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank."
One of the bank's no-nos, per Farro.
"We wouldn't do anything in adult entertainment."
Asked what he meant by that, Farro says, somewhat hesitantly: "Porno?"
Q: Have you heard the term shell corporation?
A: I have.
Farro explains what a "shell company" is, agreeing with the prosecutor that it's an entity without any business operations.
Q: Do you know about someone named Michael Cohen?
A: Yes, I do.
Farro says Cohen was assigned to him and had been a client at the bank for years before he took over the client relationship.
Farro said he was assigned to Michael Cohen because of his skill sets with "individuals who may be a little challenging," a comment that sparked some chuckles in the courtroom.
Correction:
Bove picks apart a hairsplitting detail from notes from the meeting. The discrepancy is whether Pecker said AMI was "buying" or "purchasing" accounts of "women selling stories."
Pecker notes that "buying" and "purchasing" mean the same thing.
The detail was a bit too fine-tuned for this under-caffeinated reporter during the Friday session.
I deleted and corrected earlier tweets botching the quotation.
Cohen told Farro that he worked for Trump "frequently," because he was "very excited" about that fact, the witness says.
Farro acknowledges that he's testifying, in part, as a custodian of records for First Republic Bank.
He is currently being asked about emails for authentication.
Context:
Custodial witnesses verify records through legal procedures that can often seem tedious, and the jurors seem less than captivated at this moment.
But important and compelling evidence often comes in through them.
Rhona Graff, as a custodial witness, authenticated the records linking the Trump Organization's database to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
Now, Farro is reviewing emails about Cohen.
Email:
"Please return Michael Cohen's call when you are available today regarding an important matter," Farro wrote on Oct. 13, 2016.
Farro says that this is about Michael Cohen wanting to open an account for his new LLC.
"He said it was an account for real estate."
Email from Farro on Oct. 13, 2016:
"Need an account opened for Mike Cohen immediately. He wants no address on the checks. Calling you now to discuss."
Exhibit: Corporation paperwork for Cohen's shell company
Resolution Consultants LLC, a supposed real estate consulting company.
That's the same LLC that Cohen used to try to transfer rights to McDougal's story from AMI to himself.
Next exhibit: Delaware entity formation records for the same LLC
Email:
Michael Cohen to Oliva Cassin, another First Republic employee dated Oct. 13, 2016
Subject: "Re: Account paperwork"
In a bank record, Cohen gave an elaborate description for what Resolution Consultants LLC does.
The description does not appear to include anything close to acquiring the rights to Karen McDougal's story from a tabloid empire before the 2016 election.
On Oct. 26, 2016, Farro's assistant sent an email to him: "Please return Michael Cohen's call at [REDACTED]."
According to Farro, Cohen said that he was "changing course" and wanted to open a different account instead of Resolution Consultants LLC.
Asked if it was urgent, Farro quipped: "Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me he gave me a sense of urgency."
DA Bragg alleged in court documents that Cohen spoke to Trump on that same day: Oct. 26, 2016, shortly before the election.
Cohen was now opening a new account for Essential Consultants LLC, the shell company he used to pay off Stormy Daniels through her attorney.
Bank records for Essential Consultants LLC are displayed for the jury.
The form asked: "Is the entity associated with Political Fundraising / Political Action Committee (PAC)?"
Cohen answered: "No."
"When Cohen called me, I was on a golf course," Farro says, chuckling—and adding that it may seem like a "cliché" for him as a banker.
So ends the first full week of Trump's criminal trial, not counting jury selection.
Justice Merchan instructs the jury.
by ti-amie Harry Litman
@harrylitman
Graf done. Trump greets her and tries to shake her hand as she leaves(in front of jury). She gives him big grin. Guards more or less stop him.
DA asks for sidebar before next witness.
And 15 minute recess--suspense builds!
by ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Back on the stand: Gary Farro.
The prosecutor returns to the "Know Your Customer" form that Michael Cohen had to supply to open an account.
Asked what would have happened if the bank knew the money would go to an adult film actress, Farro reiterates that First Republic Bank does not work "with that industry."
Cohen may not have been able to open an account.
Farro explains what a home equity line of credit (HELOC) is — the kind that Michael Cohen used to obtain the money to funnel to Stormy Daniels' lawyer.
Next exhibit:
In an email assigned a "High" importance, the bank's staffer requests expedited processing on a $131,000 advance.
Farro now reviews the bank's account statement for Essential Consultants LLC, from Oct. 26 to 31, 2016.
Why so short a time frame?
The account didn't exist before the earlier date. The statement is the image at the top of the thread.
Farro testifies: "All wires have to approved by the bank."
If they knew the wire would benefit a political candidate, Farro says, it could have delayed the transactions.
Farro said there also would have been "enhanced due diligence" had the bank known that the money was going to an adult film star.
That could have delayed, or even blocked, the transfer, he adds.
Direct examination concludes.
Up now for cross-ex: Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche.
Blanche emphasizes that the witness is testifying pursuant to a subpoena, but he has been cooperative—and has no reason not to be cooperative.
Farro agrees.
Asked if the witness is paying for his own lawyers, Farro replies that he isn't.
His employer banks have paid his legal bills.
Blanche's questions shift the focus to Michael Cohen.
Q: Indeed, if he had said, this is a deal I'm doing with my employer, you may have asked questions.
A: I would have asked questions.
Blanche asks whether Farro suspected the LLC was a shell company.
Farro notes that LLCs are "commonly used for business," and he agrees that wouldn't typically raise any "red flags."
Blanche asks the witness about the acronym PEP: "Politically Exposed Person."
Farro says he would not have considered Michael Cohen a "PEP" because of his then-status of candidate Donald Trump's attorney.
PEPs' accounts are "monitored closely," in terms of transaction activity, Farro says.
Redirect by the prosecution:
Farro says Cohen's accounts were closed after the barrage of "negative press."
Asked what negative press, Farro replies: "The ... Stormy Daniels, when that came out."
On recross:
Todd Blanche asks Farro whether the outcome meant that the bank didn't do appropriate due diligence.
Farro pushes back on that, chalking up the issue to the client misleading them.
Farro's testimony ends.
by ti-amie Morning recess.
Prosecutor Josh Steinglass broaches "outstanding issues" for argument with the jury out of the room, such as redactions.
Prosecutors also want to file a new "Sandoval" notice, requesting permission to confront Trump with his nine new contempt findings if he testifies.
Trump's attorney Todd Blanche opposed the jury hearing a message that “shady (expletive) is going on."
The full context wasn't immediately clear, and the judge has not yet ruled on the defense's request.
Next witness: Robert Browning, a custodian of records for C-SPAN
He's testifying pursuant to a subpoena as an executive director of its archives
A C-SPAN exhibit of Trump at a rally is played:
"I have no idea who these women are. I have no idea."
[...]
"The stories are total fiction. They are 100% made up. They never happened. They never would happen."
Trump in the C-SPAN video:
"These are all horrible lies, all fabrications."
Video of Trump on Michael Cohen, in happier days:
“Michael Cohen is a very talented lawyer, very good lawyer, my friend.”
No further questions. No cross. The witness leaves.
Next witness up:
Phillip Thompson, another custodial witness for Esquire Deposition Solutions
Thompson came up from Texas to testify pursuant to a subpoena.
The witness authenticates Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll's case.
A prosecutor plays a clip of it, with Trump explaining what Truth Social is, for the jury.
The witness authenticates another passage of the transcript about the "Access Hollywood" tape.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Next witness of substance:
"The People call Keith Davidson."
That's Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal's former lawyer.
Prosecutors begin direct examination with the preliminaries — biographical background, contact information and more.
Davidson says he's testifying pursuant to a subpoena.
He says he received immunity, but he didn't seek it.
Davidson is asked about Gina Rodriguez, an L.A.-based talent manager who reportedly helped negotiate Stormy Daniels' confidentiality agreement pursuant to the hush-money deal.
Davidson is asked about AMI's former chief content officer Dylan Howard.
"We were professional acquaintances and friends," Davidson says, adding that "on occasion" his clients would end up in tabloid media.
Questioning turns to Davidson meeting Michael Cohen:
That happened after the publication of a blog post mentioning Trump and Davidson's then-client Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels), he says.
Davidson authenticates email correspondence between him and Cohen in 2016.
Q: Do you know someone named Karen McDougal?
A: I do.
Q: In what context?
A: She was a client of mine.
Davidson said that he made (sic) her because she had been dating a friend of his.
Davidson:
McDougal's former brother-in-law was a client, and he made the "re-introduction."
Exhibit: Email from June 15, 2016
Davidson's email to McDougal sending her a "signature-ready" retainer agreement.
Davidson reviews and recites the attached agreement, which is entered into evidence.
His scope of services included "negotiating a confidentiality agreement and/or life rights related to interactions with Donald Trump" and related "exclusive press opportunities."
Davidson, pushing back at a question that he perceived edged close to privileged conversations:
"I can't and won't discuss what I discussed with Ms. McDougal. I think the paragraph speaks for itself."
Davidson testifies that Howard told him he would have to "run it up the flagpole," which he says he knew meant David Pecker, as the only more senior figure at AMI.
by ti-amie
Next exhibit: An invitation to a video conference meeting on Aug. 2, 2016.
Davidson, Howard, McDougal and one more person were invited to attend.
Lunch recess.
Klasfeld notes that there are wifi issues.
Davidson said he understood that McDougal deal for Michael Cohen's "client" closed, which he said referred to Trump.
by
ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
4h
Three days after the execution date of the contract, Davidson and Howard exchanged texts about letting down ABC.
"Btw - they promised her a role on dancing with the stars. Season 578568655," Davidson quipped, confirming this was a joke.
"Ha!" Howard replied.
Questioning pivots to Davidson's former client Stephanie Clifford p.k.a. Stormy Daniels.
Davidson:
After Daniels' manager Gina Rodriguez received a voicemail from Michael Cohen, Rodriguez called him to complain "some jerk" called her, was "very aggressive," and threatened to sue her.
Q: I hate to ask this way, but who was that jerk?
A: (chuckling) Michael Cohen
The phone call happened in 2011, after a blog post on The Dirty named Trump and Daniels.
Davidson says he sent a cease-and-desist letter, which succeeded in taking that story way back then.
hen, the prosecutor pivots, came the "Access Hollywood" tape.
"It's what was called a 'hot mic,'" Davidson recalled, recapping the conversation between Trump and Billy Bush.
Euphemistically, Davidson says the "Access Hollywood" tape produced "allegations" that the hot mic recorded comments that were "troublesome."
As a result of its release, interest in Stormy Daniels' story reached a "crescendo," Davidson said.
Davidson's then-appraisal of the impact of the "Access Hollywood" tape:
"Trump is (expletive)."
Howard replied, "Wave the white flag, it's over people!"
by ti-amie Davidson said that AMI "washed their hands" of the deal.
In other words, he says: "Michael Cohen stepped into AMI's shoes."
Davidson says that Gina Rodriguez told him that he would have to deal with "that asshole Cohen."
Q: What was Stormy Daniels' pseudonym?
A: Peggy Peterson.
Q: What was Trump's pseudonym?
A: David Dennison.
Davidson supplies an interesting backstory. P- was short for "plaintiff," and D- was short for "defendant. But Dennison was also on his high school hockey team.
Dennison wasn't happy about how Davidson used his name, the witness cracks, sheepishly.
Email from mid-October refers to "PP v. DD," the shorthand for Daniels' and Trump's pseudonyms.
Davidson informed Cohen that Daniels did not receive the money stipulated in the written settlement agreement.
Davidson says Cohen had a bunch of excuses for nonpayment, including Yom Kippur, the Secret Service, and the computer servers.
One time, Davidson recalled Cohen telling him: "My guy is in five f***ing states today," as an excuse for nonpayment.
Davidson says he believed that Cohen didn't have the authority to send the money:
"I let him know that [Daniels'] level of dissatisfaction was quite high."
Then, Cohen said: "Goddamn it, I'll just do it myself," according to Davidson.
Q: Did you ever believe that Michael Cohen was going to be the ultimate source of the funds?
A: Never prior to funding, no.
Q: Where did you understand the money would be coming from?
A: From Donald Trump or some corporate affiliation thereof.
Next exhibit: Another email bearing the subject line "PP v. DD."
Davidson: "Please be advised that my client deems the Settlement Agreement cancelled and void ab initio," using the Latin phrase for "from the beginning."
Davidson said that he effectively told Cohen and his client, "I'm out. Go in peace."
The rest of the email read:
"Please further be advised that I no longer represent her in this or any matter."
Davidson said he expressed to Cohen that he believed Cohen was not being truthful.
Q: What did you think was really happening?
After repeating the question, Davidson answers: "I thought he was trying to kick the can down the road until after the election."
Afternoon break.
False start as prosecutors try to introduce an exhibit.
Objection from the defense table.
Sustained.
After a bit of back-and-forth, Davidson says the resurrected Stormy Daniels deal shifted from AMI to Cohen, directly.
Davidson:
"The entire matter was very frustrating, that it was on again, off again, that there were delays in funding, cancellation, disengaging with client, re-engaging with client."
Davidson:
"Then, I call Cohen, and Cohen tells me, 'I'm not paying anything.'"
AMI was paying, Cohen told him, according to the testimony.
Davidson reviews an exhibit of an email showing him sending his wiring instructions to Cohen — "for the fourth or fifth time," he adds, with a rueful laugh.
On Oct. 26, Michael Cohen sent Davidson an email with the subject "First Republic Bank Transfer."
Cohen forwarded the message after Davidson told him he "didn't believe" he actually planned to send the money.
The original email came from Farro's assistant at First Republic Bank.
Farro was the first witness testifying today, and it comes full circle.
Davidson: "It meant nothing to me because he had my wiring instruction."
But Cohen didn't wire the funds.
Cohen forwarded the email.
Davidson on Cohen:
"He was highly excitable. Sort of a pants-on-fire sort of guy."
The witness compares Cohen to the distracted dog shifting attention to a "Squirrel!" in the movie "Up."
So ends his testimony for the day.
The jury is excused.
Justice Merchan tells the lawyers to expect to begin oral arguments on the next batch of alleged gag order violation on Thursday, at 9:30 a.m. "sharp."
Trump, his son Eric and the defense attorneys exit.
by ti-amie
TL;dr
Summarize
@summarizest
Summary:
Judge Merchan's order warns Trump of potential incarcẹration if he continues willful vioIations, despite the limitation of a $1,000 fine per vioIation under the criminaI contempt statute.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Good morning from New York.
Trump's criminal trial resumes this morning, but before the jury comes in, the judge will hear arguments over the next batch of alleged gag order violations after writing days ago: "jail may be a necessary punishment."
Live coverage ahead
That said, Trump's latest batch of alleged gag order violations fell *before* the judge's latest, most explicit warning of jail.
So it's seen as unlikely that Merchan will choose that option this time.
Trump enters the courthouse and sits at the defense table.
He adjusts himself in his chair as the photojournalists take his picture.
Entering now:
The prosecution team
"All rise."
Justice Merchan announces that proceedings will begin with the contempt hearing.
The prosecution is not going to play the video, just describe the clips.
rosecutor Christopher Conroy starts off quoting this from Trump:
“That jury was picked so fast. 95% Democrats…You think of it as a purely Democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation.”
Conroy: "It’s not just any jurors. It’s these jurors in this case."
Conroy says comments like these create "an air of menace."
“By talking about the jury at all,” Trump places the integrity of the proceedings “in jeopardy,” he says.
Conroy turns to Trump's statement during a press conference: “David’s been very nice, a nice guy.”
"This is classic carrot and stick," Conroy says of Trump's remark about Pecker.
He adds Trump's comment is a "deliberate shots across the bow" to other witnesses.
Conroy turns to Trump's comments about Michael Cohen, the two other alleged violations.
"We understand the court's concern about Michael Cohen," he says.
In his recent order, the judge gave Trump a pass on one alleged violation because he'd arguably been responding to Cohen.
But Conroy says Trump hadn't been responding to Cohen here.
Moreover, the prosecutor says: “Michael Cohen is not a political opponent.”
Conroy asks for a maximum fine, though explicitly NOT jail.
Since "we prefer to minimize disruption to these proceedings, we are not yet seeking jail."
Blanche brings up Biden's recent swipes at Trump: “Donald has had a few tough days lately. You might call it Stormy weather.”
The lawyer argues that Trump needs to be able to respond to the Stormy Daniels reference.
Merchan notes the gag order allows Trump to respond to Biden, but Trump doesn't need to swipe at Daniels to do that.
Blanche defends Trump's remark about Pecker.
"He gave a very factual and neutral answer."
Blanche denies any deeper message there.
"There's no threat. There's no threat in what President Trump said."
After Blanche makes a reference to "what's going on behind us," the judge pins him down: "What are you referring to?"
"The press," Blanche says.
Merchan pointedly notes there's "no surprises here" at the media interest.
Blanche complains about Trump's inability to respond to press and witness statements: "Everyone in the world can say everything that they want."
Justice Merchan notes the difference — Trump is a criminal defendant.
Merchan:
I don’t have authority over the press. I don’t have authority over the other people saying things.
Justice Merchan remarks that he's not "terribly concerned" about Trump's remarks about Pecker.
Todd Blanche displays a string of exhibits of Michael Cohen taunting Trump in tweets and retweets throughout April.
Cohen's nickname for him, "Von (expletive)," has entered the public record.
Justice Merchan presses Todd Blanche to respond to Trump's remarks about the jury.
Blanche says that Trump believes that he's facing a "political persecution."
Merchan asks him whether it's a violation of the gag order. Blanche, after a preamble, finally answers no.
After Blanche says that Trump didn't refer to any *particular* juror in his remark, Justice Merchan shakes his head and looks at him incredulously.
That's clearly the one that bothers the judge most.
The morning's hearing ends.
Brief recess.
As happened during the first contempt hearing, Justice Merchan did not immediately issue a ruling.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Keith Davidson is back on the witness stand.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Davidson reviews a series of emails between him, Dylan Howard and Michael Cohen, starting on the evening of Oct. 26, 2016.
That's when Cohen started his scheme to funnel the hush money through his shell company, Essential Consultants LLC.
Davidson says the emails reflect his losing trust in Cohen.
Q: I believed that he was not telling me the truth.
A: About what?
Q: Delays in funding.
On Tuesday, Davidson said he thought Cohen tried to kick the can down the road until after the election.
Testimony turns to the Wall Street Journal's report exposing Karen McDougal's story.
Davidson says that Cohen told him the boss would be upset, and he understood that to mean Trump.
Dylan Howard's response to the "What have we done?" text was "Oh my god."
Davidson recalls a conversation with a frustrated Michael Cohen on Dec. 9, 2016.
"Jesus Christ, can you (expletive) believe that I’m not going to Washington? After everything I’ve done for that (expletive) guy!" [...]
"I've saved that guy’s ass so many times, you don’t (expletive) know."
Davidson also recalled Cohen telling him:
"You know that (expletive) guy’s not even paying me the $130,000 back."
Exhibit:
Keith Davidson responding to a Wall Street Journal press inquiry by saying, "Nothing about the present day regurgitation of these rumors causes us to rethink our prior denial issued in 2011."
He says he then forwarded that exchange to Cohen.
Davidson on why he forwarded the press inquiry to Cohen:
"I think I had a contractual duty to let them know that something was about to be published."
The prosecutor and the witness go line-by-line, showing how an extremely technical reading of the document may be justified.
For example, Davidson quibbles with the phrase "hush money."
He prefers the word "consideration."
On Jan. 17, 2018, Cohen texted Davidson: "I have her tentatively scheduled for Hannity tonight. Call me after your trial."
Davidson says Cohen was "frantic," with many phone calls and text messages.
Text from Cohen to Davidson on Jan. 27, 2018:
“Keith,
The wise men all believe the story is dying and don’t think it’s smart for her to do any interviews."
Davidson replied: "100%."
Daniels never went on Hannity.
More texts about Daniels:
Cohen: "Just no interviews or statements unless through you."
Davidson: "Got it."
More texts:
Davidson, 1.24.18: Spoke to her. Everything is as we discussed - she steadfastly refused to speak about the past.
Cohen, 1.25:18: We will see because it airs tonight.
Cohen, 1.26.18: Why is she going on Kimmel after the Sotu
Davidson, 1.26.18: Idk I was pissed. She said this was her shot. I’m meeting with her this weekend to prep her and get the statement.
Trump is closely following along the text message chain as the evidence is displayed on the screen in front of him.
by ti-amie
Daniels denied on Kimmel that she signed signed it, sparking this exchange.
Cohen: "They showed her signature and she claimed it was not hers on Kimmel."
Davidson: "Wtf"
He delicately calls that an “expression of exasperation,” then spells out the acronym under his breath.
Texts from 1/31/18
Cohen: "Please tell Gina to ensure she responds the same as your statement tomorrow when she does the view. This is not a comedy show."
Davidson: "Gina is ticked off at stormy because stormy made her look like a liar. Gina says she is going to have a LONG talk with stormy on the plane to NY tomorrow. She assured me this will get handled."
Davidson says Cohen threatened to sue Stormy Daniels, saying things like "Don’t (expletive) with us" and "You don’t know who you’re (expletive) with."
Next texts: Davidson runs his reply to a press inquiry from Chris Cuomo by Cohen.
Davidson said reports that Michael Cohen paid Daniels through "personal funds" is in "complete harmony with what [Cohen] informed me of at the time of the transaction.”
"Perfect," Cohen replied.
Davidson said he believed it was "truthful," even if he stood by his earlier testimony that he believed Trump was the ultimate source of the funds.
The prosecution's final question on direct—
Q: Do you have any stake in the outcome of this trial?
A: No, not at all.
Morning recess.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Trump's lawyer Emil Bove kicks off cross-ex:
Asked whether he ever met Trump, Davidson replies, "Never"
Bove asks him about his "strong professional relationship" and close friendship with Dylan Howard.
Q: How did you guys meet?
A: I don't know.
Q: Was it in connection with your work?
A: I think so.
Under questioning, Keith Davidson agrees that Karen McDougal had a "very healthy career" before her alleged affair with Trump became public.
After the 2011 blog post on The Dirty, the Daily News picked it up. Davidson also worked to get that story down.
But Davidson did not formally rep Daniels, via an engagement letter, until 2016.
Bove presses Davidson to agree that "Peggy Peterson" and "David Dennison" pseudonym was his contrivance — but Davidson pushes back.
Q: That was your idea, right?
A: No.
Davidson says this whopper when asked about Michael Cohen complaining about not going to Washington after Trump's election:
"I thought that he was going to kill himself."
Bove asks a series of questions about extortion, sparking objections from the prosecution table. The judge lets in a question about whether the statute of limitations expired on that crime.
Q: "You're an attorney and you haven't thought about that?"
A: "I have not."
Bove heavily suggests that Davidson was concerned about "the line" before committing extortion.
Q: Even today, you don't remember whether you were concerned about linking the election to these payments.
A: Correct.
Q: In 2016, you had in fact familiarized yourself with the law of extortion based on a very specific experience, right?
A: No.
Davidson agrees that he was subjected to a state and federal investigations with regard to Hulk Hogan.
Asked if he threatened Michael Cohen regarding the election, Davidson replies emphatically: "I never made any threats to anyone."
Bove asks Davidson about TMZ posting information about Lindsay Lohan regarding a confidential patient file.
Davidson says he doesn't recall helping axed Betty Ford employee get paid.
Bove asks Davidson about other legal matters he's dealt with involving Tila Tequila, Charlie Sheen and others.
Davidson frequently answers that he doesn't recall these.
Bove sarcastically asks whether Davidson's memory "seems a little fuzzy" about these events.
Davidson replies that he's had "1,500 clients in my career."
Bove tells the witness: "We’re both lawyers. I’m not here to play lawyer games with you."
Objection
Sustained.
After Bove says he's trying to extract truthful answers, Davidson replies: "You’re getting truthful answers, sir."
But Davidson says he's "not going to discuss confidential matters."
"And if you’re not here to play legal games, then don’t say, 'Extract,'" he pointedly adds.
Q: You made a monetary demand to Hulk Hogan's representatives so as to not publish these tapes?
A: No.
Asked if it was for Hulk Hogan to get the rights to purchase the tapes, Davidson answers: Yes.
Q: There was an FBI investigation related to this?
A: Yes.
Davidson agrees that he practiced criminal law toward the beginning of his career — and Bove says the FBI conducted a sting operation.
The Tampa Police Department also conducted an extortion investigation.
Davidson was not ultimately charged.
Q: But that experience gave you familiarity with extortion law?
A: Perhaps, I'm not sure.
Next exhibit: Davidson's retainer agreement with Karen McDougal.
It originally called for 35% of attorney's fee, later increased to 45%, according to Bove.
The defense revisits Davidson's teaser to Dylan Howard: "I have a blockbuster trump story."
Davidson concedes that AMI initially wasn't interested, in part because Karen McDougal hadn't provided enough "corroborating information."
Lunch recess.
Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)
@AWeissmann_
Weissmann Notes from 100 Centre St:
-- The cross of Davidson is bizarre.
--The proper cross is to point out that he had NO dealings directly with Trump and then to sit the hell down.
--Instead Bove chose to try to make Davidson out to be a sleaze- odd choice, particularly since that was not the tack with David Pecker- who by his own account engaged in far sleazier and more consequential activity. One suspects the cross was at the direction of the client, one Donald J. Trump.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
We're back.
Trump's attorney Susan Necheles hands over "a stack of news articles" by legal commentators like Jonathan Turley and others. She says Trump wants to post them, but she wants to make sure they do not violate the gag order.
"We think that they are perfectly fine."
Prosecutor:
"It seems odd that they're asking the court for an advanced ruling" on these sorts of things.
Justice Merchan:
"I'm not going to give advanced rulings."
The judge adds "there is no ambiguity" in the gag order, and the appellate court confirmed that.
"I think the best advice you can give your client is, 'When in doubt, steer clear,'" Merchan says.
Necheles pushes the issue of sharing these articles:
"I frankly do not know if that violates the gag order."
Merchan reiterates that he's not going to give advanced rulings and says once again, "When in doubt, steer clear."
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Davidson's cross-ex resumes:
Trump lawyer Emil Bove unpacks a one-degree of separation happenstance.
Karen McDougal's ex-husband was James Grdina, whom Bove said was tied to The Dirty, the blog that named Stormy Daniels and Trump in 2011.
Questioning turns to Davidson's conversations with Michael Cohen:
Davidson is asked whether he ever expressed that Stormy Daniels had "settler's remorse" or used the word "leverage." The witness says he doesn't recall.
At one point, Davidson suspected that Michael Cohen had been recording their conversations.
"He was talking in a linear fashion," Davidson said. "It was a very structured conversation. It wasn’t really his personality."
Davidson, donning headphones, hears his tape with Cohen.
After listening, Davidson agrees he used the word "leverage."
Q: That was Ms. Daniels' goal, was it not, to create leverage over Donald Trump.
A: No.
During this series of questions, Davidson is being confronted with his recorded conversation to refresh his memory.
So we're not hearing the conversation, but he's listening — via old-school headphones that hang below his chin rather than above his head.
In a private conversation with Cohen, Davidson told him that there wasn't any indication that Cohen needed authority to pay the $130,000.
Davidson agrees he also said: "It's the truth, Michael. You know that, and I think that you and I both want the truth out there."
Davidson recalls stating that he thought Trump would lose the election, and when he did, "we lose all (expletive) leverage and this case is worth zero."
Bragg sits at his usual spot two rows back behind the prosecution table, watching his assistants do their work.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
ADA Steinglass begins redirect, beginning with his conversation with Michael Cohen in April 2018.
The prosecutor reveals crucial context: Michael Avenatti was trying to drive a wedge between Stormy Daniels and her former counsel.
On cross, Trump's attorney quoted Davidson saying "We know we were full of (expletive)" and "we lose all (expletive) leverage" if Trump loses.
But Steinglass notes Davidson had put these sentiments in Avenatti's mouth, as his talking points at discrediting him.
The "leverage" line becomes even more clear during recross by Bove:
In fuller context, Davidson is telling Cohen what he says Daniels told him, so as to emphasize that he never pressured her to settle.
Davidson's testimony ends.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Next witness: Douglas Daus, a forensic analyst at the Manhattan DA's office
We're back to custodial witnesses for verification.
Typically, the parties streamline this process by stipulating to the authenticity of the evidence — that is, when the defense consents to it, which hasn't been happening in this trial.
So, the tedious process begins.
The jury hears a Trump-Cohen tape, in which Cohen tells him this bombshell line:
"I need to open up a company for the transfer about our friend David."
Context: Cohen create the shell company Essential Consultants LLC to pay Stormy Daniels, as defendant "David Dennison"
There's a lot more on that tape, from both Cohen and Trump, but that's the biggest line.
Much more when we get the transcript and the audio.
On cross, Trump's lawyer Emil Bove appears to be attacking the chain of custody of the evidence, asking a series of questions about the importance of it being unbroken.
So far, Bove has been describing general principles of forensic extraction. The lawyer elicits from the witness that the mode of extraction used here wasn't sophisticated.
Trial wraps for the day.
Justice Merchan notes that proceedings will end on Friday at 3:45 p.m. ET — slightly earlier than usual — in order to accommodate a juror's appointment.
by
ti-amie Molly Crane-Newman
@molcranenewman
At Michael Avenatti’s SDNY trial, Stormy Daniels said her tryst with Trump was not romantic, testifying, “I don’t consider getting cornered coming out of a bathroom to be an affair”
https://nydailynews.com/2022/01/28/mich ... nyc-trial/
by
ti-amie Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)
@AWeissmann_
Weissmann Notes from 100 Centre St:
- Davidson on cross says the election was used as leverage to get the Daniels settlement agreement- not sure how that defense line of questions helps the defense that the actions were NOT to effect the election? It seems more calculated to say Trump was "extorted" by Daniels-- that also is not a legal defense.
by ti-amie Let's see if Judge Merchan does what this commentator says should be done.
Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
Since Todd Blanche nodded his head yes when Trump claimed that his right to testify has been taken away because of the gag order, Merchan must start the day tomorrow inquiring of Trump’s understanding AND whether Blanche misadvised him on his 5th Amendment rights.
Todd Blanche nodding his head to Trump’s statement that he can’t testify because of the gag order is a very serious ethical violation in the middle of a criminal trial. Merchan must absolutely grill Blanche and get to the bottom of why he lied to his client about his rights.
A conviction can be overturned on appeal if a defendant can show that he didn’t understand his right to testify at a criminal trial. It is common for a judge to now question the defendant directly about his understanding of his right to testify which Merchan should do now.
by ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Thursday's witness, Douglas Daus, is back on the stand.
"All rise."
The jury enters.
Trump's attorney Emil Bove continues with an uncommonly thorough cross-examination for this type of witness.
Bove has been seeking to poke holes in the chain of custody and type of extraction used on the phone to acquire the evidence.
(...)
Bove turns the witness's attention to the metadata of Michael Cohen's conversation with Trump.
Trump's lawyer seems to suggest that the recording was "modified," and the forensic analyst disputes the premise at length.
Bove moves to strike.
Overruled.
Bove tries to cast more doubt at the recording's authenticity, getting the witness to agree that there isn't metadata on incoming calls.
Q: You would have to take Michael Cohen's word for it, right?
A: It would seem so.
He repeats this line of question later. Same answer.
With that last answer, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy begins redirect.
The witness agrees with the prosecutor's characterization that he worked with a "full forensic extraction of the device," the "gold standard."
Lengthy sidebar after the prosecutor asks whether the witness saw evidence of manipulation.
Bove objects. The parties meet privately.
Overruled.
Asked whether he saw "any evidence of tampering of manipulation" in the data, the witness replies: "I did not."
Recross by Bove:
He says that his questions were more about variables that are unanswered in the data.
The witness agrees.
The witness agrees with the defense attorney's description that there are "gaps" in the data creating "unknowns."
He did not affirmatively see any evidence of tampering.
Single question from the prosecutor:
If he made a call on his phone seven years ago, would the witness expect to see a log of it.
"I would not," he says.
With that, Daus's testimony ends.
The defense's extensive cross-ex adds up to a concession of certain "unknowns" — that prosecutors established are typical of such circumstances.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Next witness: Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the Manhattan DA's office
Longstreet has been called to review social media posts in connection with the case. Expect lengthy disquisition on the authentication of tweets, posts, 'grams, and Truths.
For the curious, the witness uses SnagIt for screen captures.
First proposed exhibit: A post retrieved via the Wayback Machine.
Blanche objects.
Morning recess.
The jury leaves.
Justice Merchan asks the defense's objection, and Blanche wants a chance to confer with his client about whether to stipulate to an exhibit in light of the judge's prior ruling.
If Trump agrees, it would be the first stipulation of the trial.
Trump and his lawyers confer over the break.
Explainer:
In most criminal trials, the parties typically agree to avoid unnecessary tedium by agreeing to the authenticity of certain evidence that cannot be disputed through stipulations.
But this isn't a typical trial. We haven't had one yet.
The stakes of the controversy at issue:
Is a certain archived version of a Washington Post article about the 'Access Hollywood" tape authentic?
Blanche:
"We continue to have our hearsay objection."
"Assuming that is overruled," the defense agrees to the stipulation.
With the jury still out of the room, Todd Blanche rattles off various hearsay objections to the archived Washington Post article.
In a small win for the defense, the prosecution withdraws it.
Next up: A batch of old Trump tweets.
Justice Merchan says he's satisfied with the reliability of the old-school Twitter posts.
Next up: A Trump "Truth."
The Trump post in question:
"IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!"
The prosecution says this goes to Trump's pressure campaign on the witnesses.
The Twitter posts and "Truth" are coming in as admissions, the judge rules.
The prosecutor clarifies her withdrawal of the WaPo article: That's "subject to the stipulation" of its authenticity, presumably if it later becomes admissible.
"All rise."
The jury enters.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
The prosecutor reads her stipulation about the archived WaPo article into the record.
Trump video tweet, dated Oct. 8, 2016, is played for the jury:
The then-candidate's apology for his "Access Hollywood" comments, where Trump said he "said things that I regret."
"I said it. I was wrong, and I apologize."
Next tweet:
Trump going after John McCain for distancing himself from Trump after the Access Hollywood tapes.
Another Trump tweet shown to the jury:
"Polls close, but can you believe I lost large numbers of women voters based on made up events that NEVER HAPPENED."
Others like it are shown to the jury, before moving on to a Truth Social post of Trump referring to this criminal proceeding as the "'Horseface' case."
Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche has some questions for the witness on cross-ex.
Asked if she reviewed Michael Cohen's social media accounts, she answers in the affirmative.
"Twitter. I don't know if you could call podcasts 'social media,' but that. That would be it."
Asked if she listened to all of Michael Cohen's "Mea Culpa" podcasts, the witness answers: "Absolutely not," to laughter in the courtroom.
Blanche chuckles after too.
Blanche asks whether the witness has an "independent knowledge" from working at Twitter or working at Truth Social on how they date and time-stamp posts.
Longstreet concedes that she doesn't, but she adds that the recent Truth Social posts unfolded in real time.
She has worked in the DA's office for roughly two years, and she says this isn't her only case.
No further questions.
The witness exits.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Trump trial news:
"The People call Hope Hicks."
Court officer: "Witness entering."
Hope Hicks takes the stand, raises her right hand and is sworn in.
"I do," she says, softly, before sitting.
Justice Merchan: "Good morning, Ms. Hicks."
(To prosecutor)
"You may inquire."
As Hicks rattles off her biography faintly, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asks her to move closer to the microphone.
She says she's "nervous."
Q: So you began working at the Trump Organization about four years after you finished college?
A: That's right.
Hicks says she is represented by counsel and paying for her lawyer.
Q: Do you have any current professional relationship with Mr. Trump?
A: I don't.
The mic picks up Hicks more strongly now, as the questioning still focuses on the preliminaries of her prior work with Trump.
At first, the amplification appears to startle her because of her nervousness, but then, she sinks into her testimony.
Hicks:
"Everyone who works there in some sense reports to Mr. Trump."
Even as a big and successful company, it operates like a small family business, she says.
She's asked about Trump Org exec assistant Rhona Graff and ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg
Q: Are you familiar with someone named Michael Cohen?
A: (softly) Yes.
Questioning pivots to Hicks' media work for the Trump campaign.
Q: Did you speak to Mr. Trump in your role as the press secretary?
A: Every day.
Now, Hope Hicks dents the notion that Trump was out of the loop of anything in terms of public communication:
"He knew what he wanted to say and how we wanted to say it. We were always following his lead."
Q: Did you send text messages for the campaign?
A: Yes.
Q: And receive text messages too?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you know someone named David Pecker?
A: Yes.
Q: How do you know Mr. Pecker?
Hicks says she was first introduced to the AMI chief at a previous job. She was then reintroduced to him as a "friend of Mr. Trump."
Hicks doesn't remember how she learned that Trump and David Pecker were friends, but at some point, she says she realized that.
She says she was present for Trump's phone calls with Pecker.
Hope Hicks:
"One of [the Trump-Pecker calls] was shortly after the National Enquirer published a piece about Ben Carson."
Pecker was on speaker phone and Trump "congratulated" him about "the great reporting" — that Trump called "Pulitzer worthy."
(Note: She didn't reference any headline in particular, but these are the ones that came in during Pecker's testimony earlier at the trial.)
Prosecutor Colangelo shows Hope Hicks an email that she received from
@Fahrenthold
.
Hicks forwarded the email to other campaign leadership.
The prosecutor admits it into evidence.
In the email, Fahrenthold alerted Trump's campaign about the "Access Hollywood" tape, with a lengthy, relevant portion of the transcript.
Q: What was your first reaction when you first received this email?
A: I was concerned. Very concerned. (Pause) Yeah.
She forwarded it with the subject line, "FW: URGENT WashPost query," just like that to Jason Miller, David Bossie, Kellyanne Conway, and Steve Bannon.
The body of the email, skipping over random computer code, advised this response to the "Access Hollywood" story:
"FLAGGING.
1) [...] Need to hear the tape to be sure.
2) [...] Deny, deny, deny."
Hicks:
I shared the email with Mr. Trump, verbally.
I may have misheard a quote by Hope Hicks and will check with the transcript to confirm.
Hicks said that she sensed the Access Hollywood tape was going to be a "massive story," that would hold the news cycle for next several days, "at least."
Hicks watches Trump's video response to the Access Hollywood tape, which was posted on Twitter on Oct. 8, 2016 — and was shown to the jury earlier today.
She says she was present when it was taped.
The prosecutor notes that the video contrasted what Trump played down as his words as opposed to other people's actions.
Hicks agrees with that characterization.
Showing how coverage of the tape "dominated" the news cycle, Hicks noted they were anticipating a Category 4 hurricane making landfall on the East Coast at the time.
Q: The "Access Hollywood" tape pushed the hurricane off the news?
A: Yes.
Prosecutor Colangelo asks a line of questions about the GOP's response to the tape, and the defense responds with a string of objections.
The parties debate the matter further at sidebar: Sustained.
Questioning turns to the 2016 debate:
Hicks traveled with Trump there, and she was present for the debate, where the "Access Hollywood" tape came up as "one of the first questions."
Hicks says Trump reiterated that this was "locker room talk, just talk."
"Words, not actions," she says.
After the debate, the New York Times about Trump's behavior — but the prosecutor cuts her off before she says more.
Video:
Trump denies allegations by women — the nature of which is not before the jury.
This is the line prosecutors must walk:
They must show Trump's campaign in tailspin after the "Access Hollywood" tape, sparking motive to cover up a spectrum of alleged sexual misconduct.
Only some alleged behavior, though, they can speak by name.
Hicks reviews a series of Trump's damage-control tweets about the allegations and their affect on female voters.
Hicks recalls learning about Stormy Daniels during one of Trump's celebrity golf tournaments.
Daniels was there with one of the other participants, Hicks says.
Exhibit:
An email of WSJ's Michael Rothfield asking for comment about Karen McDougal.
Rothfield explained at length what he found.
(Corrected to show it was an WSJ scoop.)
From the email:
"My questions are: Did Mr. Trump have an extramarital affair with Karen McDougal?
Was he or anyone close to him aware or involved in this contract between AMI and Ms. McDougal?"
Hicks forwarded it to Jared Kushner, whom she wanted to press the matter with Rupert Murdoch, the paper's publisher.
Hicks said that she floated her response to the WSJ by Michael Cohen — and then by Trump.
Exhibit:
Michael Cohen's email to Hope Hicks on Nov. 4, 2016, with a draft response to the WSJ inquiry vis a vis McDougal.
Cohen:
"These accusations are completely untrue and just the latest despicable attempt by the liberal media and the Clinton Machine to distract the public from the FBI's ongoing criminal investigation into Secretary Clinton and her closest associates."
Hicks then learned: "The story was also going to mention Stephanie Clifford / Stormy Daniels."
Lunch recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
We're back.
Court officer: "Witness entering."
Hicks returns to the stand.
Merchan: "Good afternoon Ms. Hicks. Remember you're still under oath."
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Assistant DA Colangelo resumes his questioning, continuing the topic of the WSJ inquiry.
Q: Around this time, on Nov. 4, did you witness any phone conversations between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen?
A: Um. (pause) I believe I saw Mr. Trump speaking to Mr. Cohen shortly after the story was published.
Hicks is shown the WSJ's story.
In it, Hicks is quoted saying, "We have no knowledge of any of this" — and calling Karen McDougal's claim of an affair with Trump "totally untrue."
Asked whether Trump advised her about the messaging, Hicks says she cannot recall.
The prosecutor has her review her grand jury testimony, asking her if it refreshes her recollection. She says it doesn't. He has her read the last three lines. She still says it doesn't.
Hicks told the WSJ that Daniels' claim of a relationship with Trump was "absolutely, unequivocally" untrue.
She says she texted Michael Cohen about the story.
Text between Madeleine Westerhout and Hicks on March 20, 2018:
"Hey- the president wants to know if you called David pecker again."
That was the day Karen McDougal sued AMI to be released from the NDA.
The WSJ story has this anonymous quote:
"These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election," a White House official said.
Hicks says it wasn't her. She says she believes it was Hogan Gidley, then-deputy PressSec, but she's not sure.
Hicks recounts a conversation with Trump where the then-president said "that Michael had paid (sigh) this woman to protect him from a false allegation."
Trump told her Cohen did so "from the kindness of his own heart and that he didn't tell anyone that it happened," she says.
She didn't buy it.
Hicks says that'd be "out of character for Michael."
"I didn't know Michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person. [He's the] kind of person that seeks credit."
That line apparently got Hope Hicks emotional, leading to this moment at the start of her cross-examination.
No sooner does Trump lawyer Emil Bove's cross begin than Hope Hicks starts to tear up and cry.
Afternoon recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Hicks apparently started getting emotional toward the end of direct, after recounting her disbelief of Trump's story about Cohen.
Her emotion crescendoed and interrupted her testimony before Bove had finished asking his first question—an unobtrusive query about her career.
We're back.
Bove (empathetically): "If you need a minute, just let me know."
Hicks agrees with Bove's comment that Michael Cohen was speaking as a surrogate, not a member of the campaign.
She also agrees that the campaign sometimes thought Cohen "went rogue."
"He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix-It, but it was only because he first broke it!"
Q: President Trump gives a lot of feedback, right?
A: He does.
She provides some examples.
Bove's gentle questioning sticks to the defense opening statement's theme: That there's nothing wrong with a campaign engaging with the media before an election.
"I wouldn't have a job if that was not a regular practice," Hicks says.
The contrast between Bove's feather-light and leather-gloved cross-examination of Hope Hicks — and his aggressive grilling of Keith Davidson, or even a custodial forensic witness — is remarkable.
Bove turns to her conversations with Trump.
Q: You were working that day in your official capacity, right?
A: Yes.
Q: And he was there trying to be President of the United States, right?
A: Yes.
Bove's last question:
Q: You didn't have anything to do with the business records of the Trump Organization [...] miles away in New York City?
A: No.
"I have nothing further, your honor," the lawyer says.
No redirect. Hicks leaves.
Justice Merchan to the jurors:
"We're going to call it a week."
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
57m
After they leave, one more topic at hand: Sandoval.
Prosecutors want the ability to confront Trump about his gag order violations **in this case** on cross-examination if he testifies in this trial.
Todd Blanche argues against, hoping to avoid a "whole sideshow."
Blanche notes that the judge already allowed prosecutors to confront Trump on his gag order violations in the civil fraud case, which he says can serve the same purpose.
Prosecutor Colangelo says precedent is on their side.
Judge: "I agree with Mr. Blanche."
He DENIES the prosecution's application here, finding that telling the jury that the judge in this case found him in contempt would be too prejudicial.
Trump has his eyes straight toward the exit as he leaves the court today.
by ti-amie I haven't commented on any of this stuff but breaking down and crying?! C'mon man.
by ti-amie Lisa Rubin
@lawofruby
NEW: We just took a brief break because the most composed woman in Trump’s orbit — Hope Hicks — broke down on the stand right as cross examination started. Why would Hicks burst into tears—and why is she struggling to keep it together now? 1/
There are a couple of theories floating around among journalists watching with me. One is that being asked about the Trump family — who plucked her from a private PR firm & turned her into a star — overwhelmed her. Her affection for Trump the man is still evident. (She did PR for Ivanka)
The other is darker. Hicks isn’t out to hurt Trump, but today, she revealed that Trump shared with her that he spoke with Cohen in Feb. 2018, the morning after Cohen told @nytimes that he paid Stormy Daniels without Trump’s knowledge.
Trump told Hicks that Cohen had made the payment to protect Trump from false allegations, never told anyone about it, and did it out of the goodness of his own heart.
Asked whether that was consistent with the Cohen she knew, she said that it was not. “I did not know Michael to be an especially charitable or selfless person; he is a kind of person who seeks credit,” Hicks testified.
In other words, without having to call Trump a liar, Hicks admitted the story Trump told her was a dubious one.
Perhaps even worse, during that same conversation, Trump asked her how she thought the Times story was playing and wondered aloud whether it would have been better for the story to have come out during the campaign or when it had, concluding the real-life timing had been better.
That’s where the prosecutors’ direct examination of Hicks ended and within a minute or two, her emotions bubbled over.
None of us can say why Hope cried or what’s going through her head. But as mysterious as she is, I can’t imagine that as she criss-crossed America at Trump’s side, she ever imagined testifying in a criminal case against a man who saw her as a surrogate daughter.
by
ti-amie George Conway
@gtconway3d
“Conway replied by stating that the testimony heard in court so far corroborates what Cohen has said about the case:
“‘And every bit of testimony that has come out shows that Michael Cohen has come clean and is telling the truth about that. Now, they’re going to go after him, say, “Well, you submitted this form to the taxi commission.” Whatever. They’re going to go through all sorts of stuff. And it’s like, so what, tell me what it is that Michael is lying about on this witness stand that relates to this case?
“‘And they got nothing because he’s been corroborated by Pecker, he’s been corroborated by his banker, corroborated by the texts, he’s been corroborated by the tapes he recorded of Donald Trump, he’s been corroborated by Hope Hicks.’”
“Conway speculated that Trump’s attorneys will try to ‘provoke’ Cohen when he is on the stand, but it will not work because ‘he’s got the truth on his side.’
“He concluded:
“‘I think the Trump people should actually be pretty terrified of Michael Cohen. And this is Michael Cohen’s chance to set it all straight, to set it all straight with Donald Trump. And the way he does that is just by going with the flow, you know, admitting the stuff that he did wrong, and just sticking to the facts. And he’s a smart enough guy that he’s going to do that. And I think people are going to be surprised by that.’”
https://mediaite.com/crime/george-conwa ... ess-stand/
Now that he and Kellyanne are divorced I can take him seriously.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Now:
Prosecutors enter the courtroom, with a member of their staff carrying case files.
Now:
Trump returns to the defense table.
This time, two familiar faces from his civil fraud trial sit in the first gallery row behind him: son Eric Trump and attorney Alina Habba.
Boris Epshteyn sits in the row behind them once again.
"All rise."
Justice Merchan takes the bench and the attorneys register their appearances.
Now—
The judge finds Trump in contempt for a 10th time.
"Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction."
Merchan:
"The last thing that I want to do is to put you in jail," calling it a last resort.
The judge notes that Trump is a former president and possibly a future one.
Merchan:
"The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me, but at the end of the day, I have a job to do."
Trump's defiance of the gag order threatens the integrity of the proceedings and constitute "direct attack on the rule of law," he says.
Merchan:
"I cannot allow that to continue."
After that warning, Merchan hands physical copies of his decision to the parties.
Note:
Prosecutors explicitly did not seek Trump's incarceration on this contempt motion, which predated the judge's last warning.
Merchan's ruling from the bench puts an exclamation mark on his previously unspoken and written warning.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
"The People call Jeffrey McConney."
That's the Trump Org's former controller and Trump's civil fraud trial co-defendant.
As usual during direct examination, McConney describes his background and his job routine — here, at the Trump Organization.
McConney continues to describe the daily operations of the Trump Organization.
Now, questioning turns to approval for paying invoices.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Asked if Allen Weisselberg sometimes approved invoices by email, McConney answers: "Yes."
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo hands a thumb drive the witness.
McConney identifies it by his "scribble."
They contain emails, notes, reports from the general ledger, and Form 1099s regarding payments, the witness agrees.
The prosecutor leads McConney through the usual, detailed, and exacting questions for authenticating records.
McConney confirms that he communicated to Michael Cohen and Allen Weisselberg through his Trump Organization account and personal Gmail account.
Trump's attorney objects to the admission of certain exhibits in thumb drive — but not all.
The judge admits the evidence with no objections, and he allows the defense to object to the others if prosecutors fail to lay the foundation.
Testimony turns to Michael Cohen.
Asked what Cohen did, McConney replies: "He said he was a lawyer."
The prosecutor asks what Allen Weisselberg said about paying Michael Cohen.
McConney mentions the complaint about his end of year bonus, and there was other money Cohen was "owed."
Analysis: That appears to be a blow in favor of the prosecution — because Trump's defense claimed during opening statements that Cohen's payments were all legal fees.
McConney makes another self-effacing remark about his "chicken-scratch" handwriting as he identifies his notes.
McConney agrees that his and Allen Weisselberg's notes of Cohen's reimbursements were kept "in a locked drawer" of the witness's office.
The jury sees the notes — jotted on the Essential Consultants LLC account statement for First Republic Bank.
Weisselberg notes begin:
"$180,000," which McConney says include the Stormy reimbursement plus RedFinch. (Other notations confirm RedFinch expense.)
"Grossed up to $360~," which McConney says is for "tax purposes."
ADD: Add'l/Bonus 60~"
The notation adds the sum total to $420,000, the figure representing Cohen's total reimbursement.
Prosecutors say that was paid in monthly increments of $35,000, masked by 34 falsified business records.
A separate document on **Trump Organization letterhead** further breaks down this arithmetic.
After a sidebar conference, the judge overrules a defense objection and accepts more exhibits into evidence.
They are emails.
McConney to Cohen in February 2017
"Just a reminder to get me the invoices you spoke to Allen about."
Cohen thanked him for the reminder.
Michael Cohen sent his invoice to Allen Weisselberg, via Jeff McConney, that day: Feb. 14, 2017, email evidence shows.
McConney to accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff on Feb. 14, 2017:
"Please pay from the Trust. Post to legal expenses. Put 'retainer for the months of January and February 2017' in the description."
More emails.
Trump's lawyer Emil Bove has the same objection as before. Prosecutors have the same response.
Same result: Overruled. The emails are entered into evidence.
In this line of questioning, the jury is seeing some of the invoices and records at the heart of the 34 felony charges.
McConney to Tarasoff, forwarding another invoice:
"Please pay."
In one email, McConney instructed Tarasoff to stop payment after the original check for April was lost, according to his testimony.
We're now up to the September invoice.
Michael Cohen wished Allen Weisselberg a happy Thanksgiving on the November invoice, per another email.
Michael Cohen sends Allen Weisselberg another happy holiday (apparently in advance), on Dec. 1, 2017, in an email for the final invoice.
Asked whether the emailed invoices were consistent with the $35,000 monthly payments to Michael Cohen, totaling $420,000, McConney agrees that they were.
McConney agrees they satisfied Cohen's reimbursements.
Morning recess.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
We're back:
"Witness entering," the court officer says, as McConney takes the stand once again.
Now, we're moving onto the ledger entries.
Per the hallway press pool over the morning recess, Trump didn't take the bait after Justice Merchan's threat of incarceration:
"Trump walked into the courtroom at about 11:35 a.m. and did not respond when a pooler shouted: 'Mr. Trump, what do you think of jury?'"
The jury is viewing the ledger entries for the Donald J. Trump - Revocable Trust Account.
McConney points out the code for legal expenses.
McConney says that there were no legal expenses to Cohen logged in the account for 2018.
(Prosecutors say all the reimbursements were paid, and completed, the year before in 2017.)
Reminder:
Trump's attorney Todd Blanche previously said that his client can't simply give no-comments to press inquiries like this, but the former president confirms once again that he can.
Back to the trial.
McConney is asked about form 1099, the tax forms for payments made to individuals or businesses who aren't one's employer.
Cohen's form 1099 is now in evidence.
Reminder:
In order to elevate the falsifying business records charges to felonies, the DA must show Trump's intent in those records to commit a separate crime.
Prosecutors have permission to argue three statutes: federal election law; state election law; and tax fraud.
Trump's attorney Emil Bove began his cross with a series of questions suggesting the records were legal expenses — but the witness's answer gives him something of a false start.
Q: In 2017, Michael Cohen was a lawyer, correct?
A: OK. Sure. (Laughter)
Another question noted Cohen's signature line identifying himself as Trump's personal attorney.
McConney agreed that the line didn't say "fixer."
Asked if there was a real risk about adverse publicity, McConney replied he wasn't a marketing person.
The defense attorney notes that the Trump Org had employees handle publicity, and bad press about Trump could threaten business. McConney agrees.
Bove shows McConney his own notes of the system of Cohen's reimbursements on Trump Organization letterhead.
McConney agrees that he was just writing what Weisselberg explained to him.
Asked whether he knew what Weisselberg meant by "[g]rossed up" payments to Cohen, McConney answers no.
He says he also doesn't know what RedFinch is.
(Context: It's reportedly the IT firm that rigged online polls for Trump in early 2015.)
Bove seeks to mitigate the blow of McConney's testimony that he kept the notes of Cohen's reimbursement system in a locked drawer.
Q: Isn't it a fact that most of the drawers in your office were locked?
A: Yes.
McConney agrees with the attorney's argument that this was because payroll records contained sensitive information.
The defense turns to the 1099 forms, from Trump and his trust, noting the vendor name on both is "Michael D. Cohen, Esq."
Bove's questions circle around his argument that these are, in fact, for legal fees.
Asked to confirm he did not know what Cohen did with his taxes, McConney says he doesn't.
by ti-amie
One key difference between the two sets of handwritten notes: McConney wrote explicitly that the "[g]ross[ing] up" was "FOR TAXES."
Stay on this thread for coverage of the afternoon session.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Next witness:
Deborah Tarasoff, accounts payable supervisor at the Trump Organization
Tarasoff says she's currently employed by the Trump Organization, which she says is paying her legal expenses.
She's worked there for 24 years.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy questions the witness, first with some preliminaries about her background and employer.
Tarasoff identifies various Trump Org employees: exec assistant Rebecca Manochio, general counsel Alan Garten, and Michael Cohen.
"He was a lawyer that worked there," Tarasoff says of Cohen.
Tarasoff confirms the general practice of stapling the invoices to the checks.
"The check is on top of the invoice."
Quick breakdown of why this is important:
Prosecutors say that Trump signed nine of the reimbursement checks, which were stapled on top of the invoice.
Both were falsely marked legal expenses, prosecutors say.
That Trump received the checks attached to the invoice for their signatures goes to the former president's knowledge of both sets of documents.
Tarasoff just testified that Trump could, and had, declined to sign certain checks.
When he did, he marked them: "Void," she says.
The prosecutor's point in that line of questioning appears to be: Trump read the checks and invoices, and he apparently didn't void them here.
Tarasoff says that Trump signed all of the checks for his personal account.
The prosecutor shows the witness a thumb drive for identification.
As the witness reviews payment vouchers, the evidence flashes on screens throughout the courtroom.
Some monitors are at the defense and prosecution tables; some large ones hang on the side and rear walls of the courtroom for the gallery.
Also: Every juror has one.
Some jurors share a screen with their peers, but they're available for up-close inspection.
That the jurors are closely inspecting these monitors shows they're paying attention.
Over in the overflow room, members of the press and public receive the same view of the evidence — and certain trial participants, like Trump — via CCTV.
Now on the screen: A check to Michael Cohen via Trump's trust.
Eric Trump and Allen Weisselberg signed it, Tarasoff says.
Eric Trump, seated in the front of the gallery, also appears to be looking at the evidence on the screen.
The check says "VOID" in three places only because it was photocopied; it was never voided, the witness says.
Tarasoff next inspects some emails related to monthly payments to Cohen.
This one is stamped with "ACCOUNTS PAYABLE" and the $35,000 amount. The witness confirms: That's her stamp.
As the records get repetitive, some of the jurors' attention wanes occasionally.
But most still have their eyes locked on their screens — showing the same records prosecutors want them to find Trump falsified.
Tarasoff confirms one check was voided: the April 2017 one, which was lost and then reissued.
The prosecutor enters a stop payment report into evidence.
Another exhibit: Another reimbursement record to Cohen marked "Retainer" for May 2017.
Shown to the jury:
Another check to Michael Cohen bearing Trump's signature, this one from June 2017.
We're now up to the August 2017 check to Cohen, bearing Trump's signature.
Again, $35,000.
Afternoon recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
We're back.
Another $35,000 check to Cohen, signed by Trump again with a marker.
The same drill, with an invoice, stamp, ledger entry, and check:
Another $35,000 to Michael Cohen for November, again signed by Trump with a marker.
The same drill, with a stamped invoice, ledger entry, and check:
Another $35,000 to Michael Cohen for December 2017, again signed by Trump with a marker.
So ends Cohen's reimbursement checks — and with them, direct examination.
Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche starts cross.
Tarasoff agrees with the lawyer that the Trump Organization is a "family business."
Blanche does most of the talking at the beginning: Trump used to be around a lot, until he campaigned for and became president. Then, he was around less.
The witness agrees with all that.
Brief cross-ex. No redirect.
Tarasoff exits the courtroom.
The parties approach for a sidebar conference.
.And we're done for the day for witness testimony.
Justice Merchan gives his usual instruction to jurors.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
After the jury leaves, Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass pushes back against the defense's implication that the prosecution is "sandbagging" them.
Trump's defense has the full witness list, just not the order, he says.
Steinglass says that prosecutors will be recalling their paralegal who authenticated Trump's social media posts, clarifying her testimony ended early to accommodate Hope Hicks' schedule.
But there's more Trump social media to enter into evidence, he says.
Note:
The social media in question isn't for alleged contempt; it's evidentiary.
Todd Blanche argues against recalling the witness.
The judge appears skeptical that there's any prejudice to the defense to let her back on the stand.
Judge: Generally speaking, how are we doing on schedule?
ADA: Well.
Judge: Well. Can you give me any more than that? (Laughter)
Steinglass estimates that the prosecution's case will last for two more weeks from tomorrow.
With that, happy Monday to all — and see you again on Tuesday.
by
ti-amie Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)
@AWeissmann_
Trump trial update: The falsity of the invoices is made crystal clear by the fact that if it were just a reimbursement is would be paid 1 for 1 and recorded as such (ie Trump wd owe Cohen $130,000), but the reimbursement had to be doubled because it was disguised as income on which Cohen would have to pay taxes. Weisselberg and McConney BOTH took notes that reflect that scheme.
The invoices also includes language that says they are payments for "services rendered" during that month, which is also something the DA will argue is false, since they included reimbursement (and Trump has admitted) for the $130,000, and not a payment for ongoing services.
Trump trial update: Exhibits 35 and 36 are key - they are the bank statement showing Cohen paid Stormy $130,000 hush money, and the notes by McConney (36) and Weisselberg (35) calculating the amounts Cohen needs to be reimbursed to make him whole after disguising the reimbursements as legal fee income.
by Owendonovan They might get him on this one.
by
ti-amie Owendonovan wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2024 1:46 am
They might get him on this one.
No jinx
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
8h
Good morning from New York.
It's a sunny and temperate morning outside the lower Manhattan courthouse for Trump's criminal trial, but reportedly, we're in for a Stormy day in court, Daniels' attorney told the AP.
Follow along here.
Assistant DA Susan Hoffinger says certain details are necessary.
Justice Merchan asks for specifics.
Hoffinger says it's "very basic."
"It's not going to involve any descriptions of genitalia or anything of that nature."
Necheles: "This case is a case about books and records."
Justice Merchan: "I'm satisfied about the representations that Ms. Hoffinger has made."
"I agree with you that she has credibility issues," the judge adds, saying that makes it more important for prosecutors to be able to establish her credibility.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
7h
Next witness: Sally Franklin, a VP and executive managing editor for publisher Penguin Random House
She's a custodial witness for records to be submitted into evidence.
Q: Are you familiar with the title "Trump: How to Get Rich"?
A: Yes.
The witness identifies passages from that book.
Jurors see the cover, the title page, the copyright page, and page with the subtitle: "Be a General."
"I am the chairman and president of The Trump Organization. I like saying that because it means great deal to me."
From of a chapter: "Sometimes You Still Have to Screw Them"
"For many years, I’ve said that if someone screws you, screw them back.
[…] As it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye."
Next book: "Trump: Think Like a Billionaire"
Sharing an author line with Trump, below his name in smaller text, is Meredith McIver
Chapter title: "How to Pinch Pennies"
Trump recounts the company depositing a check for 50 cents.
"Calling it penny-pinching if you want to. I call it financial smarts."
Another chapter, “How to Stay on Top of Your Finances,” recounts Trump telling his former controller Jeff McConney that he was fired after his cash balances went down.
McConney, who stayed an employee for years longer after that, testified about this on Monday.
Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche begins cross-examination by asking the witness about ghostwriters.
Q: You're trying to make money off the book, correct?
A: (emphatically) That is correct.
(Laughter)
Cross-ex was brief.
Redirect begins.
Q: In your experience, do ghostwriters ever write entire books without the author's knowledge?
A: No.
"The ghostwriter works for the author," the witness says later, in response to a different question.
The parties meet at sidebar to argue a defense objection—overruled.
After they wrap, prosecutors display another chapter title getting to the ghostwriter issue: "The Mother of All Advice."
The chapter begins with two epigrams: one quoting Trump's mother and the other "DJT."
The prosecutor also shares the "Acknowledgements" section showing Trump's handiwork in his books.
The custodial witness concludes her testimony.
Stormy Daniels up next.
Lengthy sidebar before her testimony.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
Judge: "Next witness, please."
"The People call Stormy Daniels."
Daniels broadly smiles as she enters the courtroom, before quickly changing to a serious expression.
Assistant DA Susan Hoffinger begins direct examination.
Daniels confirms her birth name is Stephanie Clifford, but she says she prefers to go by the name Stormy.
She describes her upbringing.
Daniels seems to be firing off details about her life and education very quickly, her voice slightly shaky.
Hoffinger: "May I ask you to slow down just a little bit."
Daniels says that she was 23 years old when she got her first adult film contract with Wicked Pictures.
Daniels:
"I was one of the youngest — if not the youngest adult — feature director."
She rattles off her awards as a director.
She is racing through her testimony — speaking much faster than in the Michael Avenatti trial, as I recall.
(...)
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
Daniels recalls meeting at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
"He did a lot of cameos and things like that," Daniels says, adding she was 27 at the time. Trump, she says, was older than her father.
Daniels, pointing in the former president's direction, identifies Trump sitting at the defense table.
Exhibit: Schiller's contact information on Stormy Daniels' phone.
The witness authenticates the exhibit.
Schiller's contact info was entered on her phone as "Keith Trump."
"I didn't know his last name. I just knew who he worked for," Daniels says.
Daniels says a publicist made her reconsider her position of "F no" to dinner with Trump:
"It will make a great story," the publicist said, according to Daniels. "He's a business guy. What could possibly go wrong?" (laughs)
She adds those were actually his words.
Hoffinger reminds Daniels, maybe for the third time, to slow down for the court reporter.
She is speaking marginally slower now.
Daniels recalls visiting Trump's hotel suite, where he was wearing a Hefner-esque robe.
"I told him to go change, and he obliged, very politely," she says.
She adds that he quickly came back in a dress shirt. The room, she says, was "three times the size of my apartment."
Another reminder from the prosecutor for Daniels to slow down for the court reporter.
Daniels:
"He asked how I got involved in the adult entertainment business."
She says she had to correct the "misconception" that adult films don't have plots — and they're all cheap lines about the pizza boy.
Then, she recalls being surprised by Trump's perceptive business questions.
Some of those: Are there any unions? Do you get residuals? Do you get health insurance? Do you get tested for STDs? Is there a doctor on staff?
Daniels: "These were very thought-out business questions."
This leads to an extensive back-and-forth about STD testing and other safety precautions, and Daniels discloses that condoms were always a must, even with her husband — even though she's "allergic" to latex, she says.
Daniels testifies that Trump told her that he and his wife don't sleep in the same room, sparking an audible response in the gallery of the coutroom.
Daniels recounts her famous story about spanking Trump with a rolled up magazine, swirling the imaginary mag above her head on the witness stand.
Q: Where did you swat him?
A: Right on the butt.
A little earlier:
Justice Merchan joined the prosecutor in reminding Daniels to slow down.
She seems more nervous here than in Michael Avenatti's trial.
Morning recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
During the recess, let's flag a less-dramatic but important part of Daniels' testimony so far: corroboration.
She has Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller's number on her phone, and prosecutors matched her famous photo of her and Trump from 2006, with the outfit he wore that day.
Some of the anecdotes, like the infamous spank, are ones we've heard before — but the exhibits, subjected to the rules of evidence and entered into the record, land with their own impact on the jury.
Before the witness re-enters, Justice Merchan chides the prosecutor to stay on topic.
"The degree of the detail we're going into are just unnecessary," Merchan tells Hoffinger.
Merchan: "Welcome back, Ms. Daniels."
She's back on the stand.
"Let's get the jury."
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Court resumes, with Daniels back in the hotel suite.
Q: Did there come a time that you needed to use the restroom?
A: Yes.
She says she had to go through a living room and a bedroom to get into the bathroom.
Daniels:
There was a leather looking toiletry bag on the counter.
"I did look. I'm not proud of it." (laughs)
Daniels:
"When I had opened the door to come out, Mr. Trump was on the bed."
She says he was wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt. She wasn't expecting someone to be there in "not a lot of clothing."
"I just thought: 'Oh my god, what did I misread to get here?'" Daniels says.
Daniels quoted Trump saying something to the effect of telling her if she "ever wants to get out of that trailer park," prompting a defense objection.
"Sustained," the judge says, impatiently.
Sidebar. The judge doesn't seem happy about the level of detail.
Asked whether she felt threatened by Trump, Daniels says no but notes there was a bodyguard who was waiting outside.
"There was an imbalance of power. Sure. He was bigger," Daniels adds.
Q: At some point, were you on the bed having sex with him?
Yes.
Hoffinger asks Daniels to describe it "briefly."
Stormy starts to say: "We were in missionary position for..."
Defense: Objection, your honor.
Judge: Sustained!
Q: Did you end up having sex with him on the bed?
A: Yes.
Q: Was he wearing a condom?
A: No.
Asked if that concerned her, she said yes, but she says she didn't say anything.
Daniels says she didn't tell anyone about it because she felt "ashamed."
Q: Did you see Mr. Trump again in Tahoe the next day?
A: Yes.
She says that, this next time, it was at one of the nightclubs in her hotel. Her employer, Wicked Pictures, hosted an event.
Daniels says she told lots of people that she went to Trump's room, but a small circle of people about the sex.
Daniels says that she Trump spoke often on the phone:
"I always put him on speakerphone. We thought it was funny. Dozens and dozens of people heard me on the phone with him."
She adds later: "He always called me 'honeybunch."
Daniels says that Trump eventually gave her the number of his assistant: Rhona.
Earlier in the trial, Rhona Graff entered Daniels' phone number on Trump Org's Outlook database into evidence.
Daniels entered her number on her phone as:
"D Trump Rona [sic]."
Analysis:
The dirty details of the testimony will dominate the headlines, but pay attention to any corroborating evidence that emerges as trial continues.
Justice Merchan admonishes Daniels to keep her answers short and responsive.
Daniels says that Trump introduced her at an event to "Karen," whom she did not know at the time.
It was Karen McDougal, she says.
Lots of colorful details drawing many sustained objections.
In 2007, Daniels says, she met with Trump for a "brief" discussion at his office. Trump claimed to be working on "'The Apprentice' thing."
Asked if Trump seemed concerned about being seen with her at Trump Tower, Daniels responds: "Oh, no. [...] He just seemed to be busy."
Daniels recalls meeting with Trump at a bungalow in Los Angeles.
"He kept trying to make sexual advances, putting his hand on my leg," she says.
Q: What was your response?
A: I told him I was on my period.
Trump eventually told Daniels that she wouldn't be on "The Apprentice," she said.
She says she fell out of touch with Trump after that and went on with her life, until someone let her know that "InTouch" would run a story about her.
(Edited to correct the mag)
There have been many animated sidebar discussions today, which will be interesting to review in the transcript.
After Trump announced his candidacy, Daniels says, manager Gina Rodriguez reached out to her trying to sell her story.
Daniels acknowledges both believed they could make money from it: "Of course."
But there was another motive. After Hoffinger asks whether Daniels thought going public would keep her safer, the defense objects. Sustained.
Daniels later says: "My motivation wasn't money; it was to get the story out." [...]
"It was motivated out of fear and not money."
Daniels says she didn't negotiate the $130,000.
Q: Why didn’t you ask for more money?
A: Because I didn’t care about the money.
Daniels says that 2016 was the best year for her business. She'd gotten several raises and bought another house.
Testimony turns to the settlement agreement she eventually side, as prosecutors display an email from Keith Davidson to Michael Cohen.
Daniels is settling into her testimony. She's slowed down and sounds calmer, more decisive and confident than when her testimony began.
Daniels inspects her signature on the "Peggy Peterson" line, with her birth name Stephanie Clifford.
Lunch recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
3h
Good afternoon.
Trump's at the defense table. Eric Trump, Alina Habba, and Boris Epshteyn are back in the gallery.
Stormy Daniels, the judge and jury aren't back yet.
Justice Merchan enters.
"My chambers reached out to People and defense counsel" to see if they wanted a limited instruction on the alleged encounter in the Las Vegas parking lot.
Todd Blanche replies: We want a mistrial.
Blanche:
The judge set "guardrails" that Daniels ran through, and it's impossible to "unring this bell."
Daniels' testimony about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump was "way different" from the one Daniels was "peddling" earlier.
Blanche:
There was testimony about Daniels being blacked out, about Trump not wearing a condom, "the height of the two individuals," the spacing in the room, and "the fact of the bodyguard not being in the room."
Blanche notes Daniels described a consensual sexual encounter back in 2016.
"That's not the story that we heard today," he says, adding that Daniels told a "completely different story."
Blanche:
"How can you unring the bell?"
Blanche says Daniels was talking about "consent" and "danger."
"Just over lunch, people are reporting that she's [discussing] consent."
Daniels later said there was consent, but that's not enough, he says.
Blanche:
"The government must have known this was coming out."
Justice Merchan: "Thank you, Mr. Blanche. People?"
Prosecutor Hoffinger responds.
Hoffinger:
Daniels' account is "highly probative" of Trump's intent. It's "not true" that Daniels is telling a new story, saying she had previously spoken about the detail about the condom.
"This is not new. This is not a new account."
Hoffinger:
"Their position that this is an entirely new story is not accurate."
Hoffinger:
"They opened the door to the threat in 2011."
It goes directly to Daniels' credibility, which Trump's defense attacked, she said.
Blanche responds:
"The reason why this evidence, in theory, is admissible, over our objection," is that they were facts presented to Davidson and Cohen spurring the NDA.
"The problem is, that isn't what came in. What came in is this extraordinarily prejudicial testimony."
Hoffinger:
Daniels made clear that Trump did not threaten her physically or verbally — and that she did not say no.
Judge:
"As a threshold matter, Mr. Blanche, I agree that there were some things that better be left unsaid." [...] The witness was a "little difficult to control."
Judge:
At this point, I do not believe that a mistrial is warranted.
Judge:
"I will also note that I was surprised that there weren't more objections" coming from the defense table.
He says that he objected, "sua sponte" (of his own accord), to some of the testimony. The defense needs to take some responsibility, he says.
Trump's attorney Susan Necheles says they objected to her testimony to begin with, and the judge rejected their request.
Merchan interjects — that's not accurate. He granted some aspects of their objection, rejected others.
Justice Merchan:
"I do not believe we have reached the point that a mistrial is on order."
He also notes, "The more times a story has been changed," the more fodder the defense has for cross-examination.
Merchan: "Let's get the witness, please."
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2h
Stormy Daniels is back on the stand, and the jury is back in the box.
The afternoon session begins with an email from Keith Davidson to Michael Cohen, dated Oct. 17, 2015.
Daniels says that she wound up with approximately $96,000 after fees.
Daniels says she did not respond to WSJ reporters' request for comment, after the publication of the story about Karen McDougal.
Daniels says she was respecting the terms of the NDA.
Daniels says that 2017 was "probably my best year ever," both professionally and personally.
Daniels confirms testimony from earlier at trial that Cohen wanted her to go on Hannity, but she declined. Why?
"Because I didn't want to," she said.
After freed from her NDA, Daniels published the book: "Full Disclosure."
She said she didn't include every detail about what she says happened in the room with Trump.
Lots of sustained objections during this prosecutor's questioning of Stormy Daniels.
Questioning turns to Michael Avenatti tweeting out a sketch of the man he claimed had threatened Stormy Daniels in a parking lot.
Daniels sued — and lost, badly. It was an expensive defeat.
Prosecution is getting ahead of cross-ex.
Details that prosecutor Susan Hoffinger elicited:
* Daniels says Avenatti posted the sketch without her knowledge.
* The court made no findings about the credibility of her claims about Trump.
* She fired Avenatti for cheating her.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2h
Trump's attorney Susan Necheles begins cross-ex.
She notes that Daniels described "grueling" prep sessions, but Daniels denies that this was "rehearsing" her testimony.
Necheles:
Q: They were pushing you, right?
A: The memories were hard to bring up. They were painful.
During the prep sessions, Necheles says, Daniels was asked "why" she acted in pornography.
Daniels responds: She doesn't recall them asking "Why?"
Necheles says the reason was money.
Daniels: Don't we all want to make more money in our jobs?
Necheles asks Daniels: "You want [Trump] to go to jail, right?"
She responds that she wants Trump to be held "accountability," but if found guilty, she "absolutely" wants him in jail.
Necheles asks a string of questions about her defeat in her defamation lawsuit against Trump, along with the six-figure legal fees she's racked up over the years.
Necheles asks another line of questions about Daniels' nonpayment of the award, saying she's openly disobeyed the court order.
Daniels agrees with Necheles that she said, "I will go to jail before I pay a penny."
"Correct," Daniels replies.
Q: You don't care about the court order, do you?
A: Of course I care.
Q: Even though there are three court orders for you to pay President Trump, you are not going to do that, are you?
A: I don't know.
Necheles shows jurors Daniels' tweet from Nov. 9, 2022:
"I don't owe him (expletive) and I'll never give that orange turd a dime.
"
Asked if she owns a home, Daniels says she doesn't.
Necheles said Daniels tweeted that she paid for a new ranch.
Daniels says that meant ranch.
Necheles asks whether Daniels hopes she won't have to pay Trump if he's convicted.
"I hope I never have to pay him no matter what happens."
Necheles asks Daniels whether she's made a lot of money claiming she's had sex with Trump.
"I've been making money telling my story about what happened to me," she replies.
Asked if she denied having sex with Trump before claiming that she did, Daniels replies: "Because I had an NDA, yes."
Necheles displays the cover of Daniels' "Full Disclosure" to jurors.
Daniels agrees that the book describes manager Gina Rodriguez arranging for a meeting between her and prominent attorney Gloria Allred.
"I actually turned down her offer," Daniels says.
Q: This is your book, right?
A: Yes.
In the book, Daniels agreed, she left out sex and anything the least bit interesting in her meeting with Allred.
Daniels agreed that Allred told her: I can't do anything else for you, if that's all there is.
Daniels says she rejected Allred's interest because "She wanted to force me into saying things that were not true."
Necheles asks whether the meeting actually showed Daniels that selling her story wouldn't work unless she talked about sex.
Daniels pushes back at the suggestion.
Cross-ex turns to Daniels' account of the parking lot threat.
Necheles says she never told anyone in the exercise class, and Daniels replies: "No, I told her that my baby had a blowout on her diaper and that's why I was crying in the bathroom."
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
Daniels says that she used the bathroom, but she didn't go to class.
"There was no way I could possibly have done exercise with how scared that I was."
She says she didn't tell anyone or call the police.
Necheles says that Daniels did not share her story about the parking lot until "seven years after it supposedly happened."
Q: Your daughter's life was in jeopardy, and you didn't tell her father, right?
A: Right.
In 2018, when Daniels went on TV, she told Anderson Cooper: "I never told this story publicly before because I was threatened."
Necheles says Daniels blamed the incident on Michael Cohen.
"No, I blamed it on a man in a garage," Daniels replies, before slightly backtracking.
Daniels acknowledges she did suspect Cohen at the time.
On direct, Daniels blamed Avenatti for releasing the sketch of the supposed parking lot suspect.
Necheles points out Daniels sat next to Avenatti on "The View" when he unveiled it.
Afternoon recess
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
We're back.
Asked if she denied the alleged affair to The Dirty, Daniels replies: "I didn't confirm or deny anything to The Dirty. I never spoke to them."
Necheles: "Your lawyer did, right?"
Daniels says that the lawyer pushed to take the post down.
Q: You were trying to extort money from President Trump, right?
A: False.
Q: That's what you did, right?
A: False.
After Necheles mentions the "supposed incident" in the parking lot, Daniels says: "It wasn't a supposed incident. It was a true incident, and I told a lot of people."
Necheles shows Daniels some text messages entered earlier in the trial, between Daniels' manager Gina Rodriguez and the Enquirer's then-editor in chief Dylan Howard.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Over the afternoon recess, the press pool got this exchange:
"'Mr. Trump, how's it going in there?' Trump held his right hand to his mouth, responding, 'Very well.'"
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
29m
* Back Thursday
by
ti-amie Some of what Adam Klasfeld left out
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Stormy Daniels says, at one point, she was staring at the ceiling wondering how she got there, and trying to think of something other than what was happening.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Daniels if Trump was wearing a condom.
Daniels: "No."
Daniels says, while it was a concern, she didn't say anything about it to Trump and that the sex itself was brief.
by
ti-amie Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
HOFFINGER: After you were interviewed for In Touch did you have an encounter in a parking lot in Las Vegas?
DANIELS: My daughter and I were going to a mommy and me workout class and… “I was approached by a man in a parking lot in Las Vegas. I thought he was the husband or something of one of the other women in the class.”
DANIELS: “He threatened me not to continue to tell my story.”
HOFFINGER: What story?
DANIELS: “About my encounter with Mr. Trump”
HOFFINGER: Did you tell the police?
DANIELS: No because I was scared and my daughter's father was also struggling and I did not tell my boyfriend, he was struggling with post-partum stuff with my daughter and alcoholism. I’d never told him about sex with Trump, so if I’d told him then when “his world was exploding,” it wouldn’t have been good.
HOFFINGER: Oct 2011, did you become aware that an article had come out online about your encounter w Trump called
http://thedirty.com?
DANIELS: Yes, Gina called….it is a gossip site, she may have sent me over
HOFFINGER: Did you provide info to that site?
DANIELS: No, I’d never even heard of this. I didn’t want the person who threatened me and my baby to think I’d done it.
HOFFINGER: Did you want it taken down?
DANIELS: Yeah, absolutely
HOFFINGER: Was it in fact successful in doing that?
DANIELS: “I assumed so, because it came down”
HOFFINGER: In 2015, “Sometime after he announced that he was running for president, did someone reach out to you again about telling your account” with Mr. Trump
DANIELS: Yes
HOFFINGER: Did Gina reach out you?
DANIELS: Yes
HOFFINGER: What did she say
DANIELS: That she could sell the story again.
HOFFINGER: Did you decide to let Gina sell your story to a news outlet?
DANIELS: Yes
HOFFINGER: Do you remember the Access Hollywood tape coming out publicly.
DANIELS: Yes
HOFFINGER: Was she trying to sell your story before?
DANIELS: Yes
HOFFINGER: Was Gina successful in doing so before that Access Hollywood tape came out?
DANIELS: No
HOFFINGER: Did you believe that she would sell your story after the AH Tape came out?
DANIELS: Yes, more people were calling
HOFFINGER: In Oct 2016, was your focus on selling your story?
DANIELS: yeah
HOFFINGER: “Did you have any intention of approaching either Mr. Trump or Michael Cohen, his attorney, to have them pay for your story?”
DANIELS: No, my motivation wasn’t money. i just wanted to get the story out.
by
ti-amie Additional detail of how the day wrapped up.
Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
NECHELES: Now you and Michael Cohen are buddies??
DANIELS: I wouldn't say we are buddies, he went on my podcast and I went on his.
NECHELES: On that podcast, he told you he had nothing to do with any supposed threat.
DANIELS: Correct.
NECHELES: Both you and Michael Cohen aspire to make money off of seeing President Trump go to jail, correct?
Objection -SUSTAINED
Housekeeping matter:
MERCHAN: If we have to continue to Thursday anyway with Ms. Daniels’ testimony, let’s stop at 4:30 pm today.
NECHELES: Turning back to 2011. You were denying to
http://dirty.com...
DANIELS: I never spoke to the
http://dirty.com so I could not deny it.
DANIELS: I absolutely did want to have [the story] removed. So I did not confirm or deny anything to
http://dirty.com. I never spoke to them.
NECHELES: Your lawyer did though, right?
DANIELS: He told them to take it down.
NECHELES: So you decide, I am going to sell my story, right?
DANIELS: I didn't just decide, I was given advice
DANIELS: “I was a much braver and much different person” than I was in 2011.
DANIELS: An attorney told me to get high, stay high. Get out in front of what you're saying
NECHELES: You then had Gina Rodriguez go on out and try to tell the story
DANIELS: “I didn’t care for how much , i just wanted the story out there, which is why i had the press conference set up for free”
And here is Trump's defense (one of them):
NECHELES: You were looking to extort money from President Trump, right?
DANIELS: False.
NECHELES: Well, that’s what you did, right?
DANIELS: False.
DANIELS: I authorized Gina Rodroguez to shop around the story so i could make it public
DANIELS: Before this, I had a press conference set up for free
NECHELES: but you didn’t give the press conference, right?
DANIELS: Gina came back into the picture so i didnt do the free press conference.
DANIELS: “If i had a chance to get the story out and make some money, yes”
Court recesses for the day. We are back on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m.
by ti-amie It pays to check multiple sources when your primary one admits to leaving out a lot of stuff. The details Phang is providing put that cross by TFG's attorney in a different light in my opinion. Again, not a lawyer or a juror.
by
ti-amie The court stenographers are putting out the trial transcripts daily. Here's the link. I don't see the PDF for yesterday's testimony but I could be overlooking it. They're not indexed so that you can jump right to what you want to see which is annoying but putting these out same day is a big deal.
https://pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTru ... anscripts/
by
ti-amie What Stormy Daniels said happened in Trump’s hotel suite, from the transcript
Despite objections from Donald Trump’s attorneys, adult-film actress Daniels shared details of the alleged sexual encounter in the New York hush money trial.
By Niha Masih and Leo Sands
May 8, 2024 at 8:12 a.m. EDT
Judge requests Trump stop cursing
Even before Daniels described the alleged sexual encounter, the judge was concerned about Trump’s reaction to her initial testimony. As the court rose for its morning recess, Merchan beckoned Trump’s defense lawyers to a sidebar.
Merchan: I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said he would talk to his client.
Merchan: One time I noticed when Ms. Daniels was testifying about rolling up the magazine, and presumably smacking your client, and after that point he shook his head and he looked down. And, later, I think he was looking at you, Mr. Blanche, later when we were talking about The Apprentice, at that point he again uttered a vulgarity and looked at you this time. Please talk to him at the break.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... ump-trial/
by patrick Heard that Mr Delay and his attorneys want a mistrial after Daniels spoke
by Fastbackss Lot of takeaways from today's transcript , but one for me is as usual thinking Gloria Allred is a slimeball version of an ambulance chaser
by
ti-amie
Justice Merchan won't let it come in, noting that anyone can be accused of — or arrested for — something.
"It's not probative of everything," he says.
Stormy Daniels enters, dressed in black, once again.
Cross-ex resumes:
Trump's attorney Susan Necheles asks Daniels whether she recalled stating that her accusations against Trump were "(expletive)."
Objection.
Sustained.
Necheles asks a series of questions about Daniels seeking to make money about her story.
Daniels pushes back, saying she wanted to get the story out.
Asked why she didn't just hold a press conference, Daniels says she was running out of time.
Necheles notes that Slate had interest in Daniels' story, but she stopped talking to its reporter amid the NDA.
Daniels: "I stopped talking to numerous people because I signed the non-disclosure, and that was part of the deal."
Necheles asks whether Daniels asked Slate's reporter that instead of being paid for her silence she wanted to be paid for her story. She rejects the premise.
Daniels: "Yes, I wanted the truth to be printed, with a paper trial."
Q: You wanted money, right?
A: I wanted the truth to come out.
Necheles asks whether Daniels said that she either wanted money or to hurt Trump politically because of his positions on gay rights and abortion.
"No," Daniels says.
Asked a similar question later, Daniels answers: "False."
Specifically, Davidson refers, on the tape and the transcript, to Rodriguez and her boyfriend.
Asked if Daniels knew Trump was concerned about his family, Daniels answers: "I was never mentioned anything about his family."
The judge overturns the defense's objection to her answer.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
Clarification: This is full question and answer before Stormy Daniels deadpanned, "No, nobody would ever want to publicly say that."
Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
NECHELES: “Even though you had agreed that you would not discuss this supposed story and you had received a lot of money for that agreement, you then decided that you wanted to publicly say that you had sex with Donald Trump.”
DANIELS: “No, nobody would ever want to publicly say that”. I wanted to publicly defend myself after Michael Cohen told that story.
NECHELES: You wanted to make more money?
DANIELS: No, that's why 60 Minutes was free.
NECHELES: In that [60 Minutes] interview you told the world what happened with Pres. Trump?
DANIELS: Yes and I was not compensated
NECHELES: You got lots of publicity?
DANIELS: Lots of bad publicity.
Daniels is asked about her tour "Make America Horny Again." She says she didn't use the name, which she hated.
Asked about her remarks about how more "resistance" supporters attended her shows, Daniels replies: "The climate in the club definitely changed." But she says that she didn't sell herself to a different demographic.
Daniels: "I just did the same job I always did."
Asked about whether "Full Disclosure" spoke about her alleged tryst with Trump, Daniels replies it was the story of her life.
There was laughter in the courtroom after Daniels deadpanned: "No, nobody would ever want to publicly say that," referring to her alleged tryst with Trump.
Daniels: "You're trying to trick me into saying something that isn't entirely true."
Q: You have become a hero at those parties to Trump haters, haven't you?
A: I don't know. I can't speak for other people.
Daniels says that her documentary was "polarizing," not eliciting one opinion.
Asked whether Daniels hoped she'd be "instrumental" in putting Trump in jail, Daniels sharply replies: "Show me where I said I'd be 'instrumental' in putting Trump in jail."
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
Daniels, coolly, factually and with a hint of indignation: "I responded to hundreds of tweets like this, calling me names."
Necheles turns to a series of questions on Daniels' merchandising.
Necheles turns to a series of questions about Stormy Daniels' show about the paranormal, a subject that Michael Avenatti deployed to attack her credibility during his criminal case.
(For Avenatti, that effort failed: He was convicted.)
Necheles asks Daniels a series of questions suggesting she attacked her former partner — a topic specifically ruled inadmissible before trial today.
Objection.
Sustained.
Judge: Counsel, we discussed this.
Necheles tries quite a few follow-up questions on the subject — all objected to and all
Q: You have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex appear to be real.
A: (laughter) I wouldn't put it that way.
Daniels says the sex is "very real," but the relationships between the characters aren't, "exactly like what happened in that room," referring to Trump's hotel suite.
"And if that story was untrue, I would have written it to be a lot better," Daniels says, wryly.
Observation:
Daniels is a lot more confident, wry, and controlled during this cross-examination than when her testimony first began.
Utterly gone is any trace of her evident nervousness and speed-testimony from Day One.
Facing Trump's attorney, she seems in muted fight-mode.
Daniels lays back diagonally in her chair, looking relaxed and comfortable during the volleys of questions and answers.
Asked whether Daniels' story about Trump has changed over the years, she cooly responds: "No."
Asked whether the photo with Trump is one of the "dozens" of photos she took with celebrities, Daniels replies: "Yes."
Daniels, on the distinction Trump's lawyer is trying to draw between getting his number versus get his bodyguards:
"As I said, a bodyguard or a handler is an agent."
Trump's lawyer notes that Daniels didn't speak about her reluctance to go to the dinner in this interview.
Daniels: "This is an entertainment magazine," she says, noting that it's "light" and "frivolous."
Later: "It's an abbreviated, entertaining version of the event."
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
By the way, this was the exact candle shown to Daniels earlier.
Stewart Bishop
@stewartbishop
Necheles shows the court a shot of Stormy’s merch page, in which she’s selling a “Saint Stormy of Indictments”candle.
“That’s not you bragging about how you are the saint who got President Trump indicted?” Necheles asks.
“I thought it was funny,” Stormy says.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNJQ-ItWEAA ... name=large
The next alleged discrepancy — "dinner" vs. "snacks" or "food."
Daniels, with mild exasperation: "It was dinner!"
"It was dinnertime" and food, she adds.
Necheles pursues this line further with other Daniels interviews.
Daniels suggest that Trump's lawyer is misleadingly portraying her words:
"You're showing one sentence of an entire conversation."
Daniels: "We had dinnertime in the room."
Q: Your words don't mean what you say, do they?
Objection.
Sustained.
Throughout this exchange, Daniels emphasized the food never came, and she says she's been consistent about that.
Now
Florida Sen. Rick Scott exits the courtroom for a presser.
Daniels: Where I'm from, having dinner with someone doesn't mean you have to put food in your mouth.
She's emphasized multiple times throughout cross-ex that they planned to have food, and it was dinner time.
Q: Details of your story keep changing, right?
A: No.
Q: You have acted and had sex in over 200 porn movies?
A: About 150 of them, yes.
Necheles asks incredulously whether she got lightheaded by seeing Trump in his T-shirt and boxers, given her work.
Daniels responds, decisively: "When you're not expecting a man twice your age," yes.
Q: You're a pretty assertive woman, right?
A: More now.
by ti-amie
Daniels: "I have maintained that he did not physically threaten me in any way."
Trump's lawyer tries to suggest that Daniels told Vogue something different in 2018, which Daniels rejects.
"You're trying to make me say that [my story] changed, but it hasn't changed."
Morning recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
"We're back."
Necheles shows an Instagram post for Daniels' "Make America Horny Again" tour.
Necheles asks a series of questions that presumably please Trump, asking Daniels to agree that her client is a good golfer and people followed him around.
Q: He did very well at that golf tournament, right?
A: I don't remember.
Asked about Trump's indictment, Daniels deadpans: "There are a lot of indictments."
Necheles: I move to strike that your honor.
Overruled.
Cross-ex concludes, and there's a brief sidebar before redirect.
At least, we'll see how brief it is. Standby.
Redirect begins:
Assistant DA Susan Hoffinger asks about fear being a motivator for Daniels entering the NDA, and the prosecutor asks about Daniels receiving advice about "hiding in plain view."
Daniels says she was told: "Get high; stay high."
"It just means that if you're out in the open, you're safer," she says.
(This happened after the threat she said occurred in the Las Vegas parking lot.)
During cross, Necheles suggested that there were omissions and inconsistencies in Daniels' other interviews, including with
@AndersonCooper
. But the prosecutor shows the similarities.
Q: You did tell Anderson Cooper that you had sex in the hotel room?
Objection.
Overruled.
As Hoffinger rattles off other consistencies, Necheles continues to object, at one point saying the interview isn't in evidence.
The judge continues to overrule her, until there's a sidebar conference.
When the sidebar ends, Hoffinger asks one more, general question about how her testimony is consistent with what she told Cooper.
Q: You did not testify before the grand jury in this case, did you?
A: I did not.
Q: So you had nothing to do with the charges in this case, did you?
Defense: Objection.
Judge: Overruled.
Q: You can answer.
A: I did not.
Q: Have you been telling lies about Mr. Trump or the truth about Mr. Trump?
A: The truth.
Asked to explain her prior testimony she's both made and lost money talking about Trump, Daniels said: "I've had to hire security, take extra precautions," and hire "a tutor for my daughter."
She notes that she has the attorney's fees judgment.
Asked whether her coming out against Trump been a net positive or net negative in her life, Daniels replies: "Negative"
Hoffinger: "No further questions."
End of redirect. Recross begins.
In her final questions, Necheles asks about Trump's post on Truth Social: "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!"
Asked if it's about her, Daniels says she doesn't know whom it's directed toward — "And I've said as much."
On one final round of redirect, Hoffinger asks Daniels to confirm the date of Trump's Truth Social post calling her "Horse Face."
She does.
Stormy Daniels' testimony concludes, and the witness exits the courtroom.
by
ti-amie I'm putting this here because I read it before I started posting today's testimony and didn't get the references she's making here. JMHO but the cross was directed by TFG.
Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
Katie's Sidebar:
IMO it was a bad defense strategy to try to "slut-shame" Stormy Daniels today on cross for her professional choices. Directly accusing her of being a liar because she works in the adult film industry was a poor decision.
The defense suggests that just because Daniels chooses to be a part of that industry, then she couldn't possibly be offended by a half-naked, "older" man who invited her to dinner, began the evening in satin pajamas, and then stripped his clothes to a t-shirt and boxers when she was in the bathroom.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Next witness: Rebecca Manochio, the Trump Organization's former executive assistant and current junior bookkeeper.
"I was compelled to testify," she confirms.
When questioning turns to ex-Trump Org controller Jeff McConney, the prosecutor asks what a "controller" is.
"I'm not really sure," Manochio says.
Prosecutor (bemused): "Fair."
Manochio is asked about the procedure for sending checks to Washington, D.C.
She would send "a few" at a time.
Q: More than 50?
A: No. [...] At one time? [...] Maybe between 10 and 20; I don't know.
Manochio said that Deborah Tarasoff would let her know if something was missing.
Asked if she understands that she's being called as a custodian of records, Manochio says: "Yes."
The prosecutor primes the witness to identify exhibits.
The witness reads FedEx records, entered into evidence.
Q: Did you ever send anything to Keith Schiller other than checks for Mr. Trump to sign?
A: No.
This direct examination, conducted by prosecutor Rebecca Mangold, focuses largely on the witness's close readings of FedEx records which will be submitted into evidence and eventually made public.
Clerical stuff, but it builds the paper trail at the heart of the case.
End of direct examination. Lunch break before cross.
Justice Merchan informs the jury that they may be ahead of schedule.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
4h
After the jury leaves, Trump's attorney Todd Blanche signals he'll move for a mistrial. He also wants to block Karen McDougal's testimony and amend the gag order to allow Trump to respond to Daniels.
The judge schedules arguments on these for 4 p.m.
by patrick Mr Delay is at again with everything except for Daniels delayed until after the election
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
3h
The next witness up: Tracy Menzies, a senior VP Creative Operations and Production for HarperCollins.
She's here as another custodian of records.
The jury is getting another tour of Trump's oeuvre:
"Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and in Life."
Chapter heading: "DO NOT TRUST ANYONE."
It relates his motto, "Get the best people, and don't trust them."
Context: Prosecutors want to show that Trump was a micromanager, boasted about being a micromanager and wrote many books extolling the virtue of micromanagement.
Trump extols loyalty in another passage before stating:
"People like Allen Weisselberg and Matt Calamari are great and have proven themselves over many years."
Another passage of Trump's book:
"My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades." [...]
"Getting even is not always a personal thing. It's just a part of doing business."
Cross-ex by Todd Blanche:
Q: Were you part of the publishing of this particular book?
A: No, I was not.
Q: Is it fair to say the book is 380 pages in total?
The witness agrees, after checking.
Asked if she was asked to read six pages, the witness agrees. She also agrees that she did not pick them.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
3h
Next witness: Madeleine Westerhout
Q: In total, how long were you in the RNC?
Three and a half years, she says.
Questioning turns to the "Access Hollywood" tape:
"At the time, I recall it rattling RNC leadership," Westerhout says, confirming that there were conversations about how to replace him as a candidate "if it came to that."
Westerhout recalls helping Trump interview candidates for certain positions.
"A majority of the working days from November through about January."
Since she kept scheduling high level meetings, she recalls, she earned the nickname 'The Greeter Girl.'
Q: Do you know someone by the name of Michael Cohen?
A: Yes.
Westerhout recalls being offered a job at the White House sitting outside the Oval Office.
"Yes, I do!" she recalls responding, with a chipper laugh. "That seems like a really cool job."
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2h
Press pool report:
"Trump entered the hall at 2:14. He raised his first and walked into the courtroom without answering 'why is Rick Scott here and not your wife' and 'why don't you want Karen McDougal to testify'"
Via
@JayShams
The prosecutors show the witness and jurors as a sketch of the Oval Office layout.
Q: Did anyone in the Oval Office sit closer to Mr. Trump than you?
"No," she answers, specifying that it stayed that way for at least the first few months of Trump's term.
Westerhout initially sat as close to the Oval Office as one could get without getting inside, but her seating eventually changed to give her an unobstructed view of the Resolute Desk.
Westerhout:
[Trump] preferred speaking to people in person or over the phone.
Westerhout recalls Trump speaking to people over the phone as early as 6:30 a.m. and until quite late in the night, after she went to bed.
She says, with a slight laugh, that she felt bad about that.
Q: Did Mr. Trump use a computer?
A: Not to my knowledge.
Q: Did Mr. Trump use an email account?
A: Not to my knowledge.
Q: Did Mr. Trump like to read?
A: Yes.
Westerhout confirms she coordinated with the Trump Org "on some things."
Westerhout says her primary point of contact at the Trump Org was Rhona Graff. She would pass along Trump's questions for the company's employees, and vice versa.
Exhibit: Email from Rhona Graff to Westerhout, with an Excel spreadsheet attachment.
It's a redacted contact list, the witness says.
Westerhout:
"This is a contact list of the President's friends, family and people he might like to speak to."
On the second page, there's Bill O'Reilly, David Pecker, Jeanine Pirro, Allen Weisselberg, Steve Wynn, Maryanne Trump, Robert Trump, Tiffany Trump and others.
Also on the spreadsheet: Michael Cohen
Next exhibit:
A text exchange between Westerhout and Hope Hicks.
Like Hope Hicks before her, Westerhout cries on the witness stand after recalling saying something she shouldn't have during an event that she believed to have been off the record.
Her voice is still wavering.
Westerhout's book "Off the Record: My Dream Job at the White House, How I Lost It, and What I Learned" is shown to the jury.
End of direct examination.
Cross begins.
* Their.
Q: After the transition, you moved to the White House, right?
A: Yes.
Asked what working with Trump was like, Westerhout called it "amazing." He never made it seem like a "big deal," like she "didn't deserve that job" — or that she "didn't belong there."
"I just found him very enjoyable to work for," she says.
Westerhout agrees with Trump's attorney that he had a close relationship with his children.
Westerhout delivers her sentimental reflections about Trump's interactions with Melania directly to jurors.
One appears to smile and nod; others seem impassive.
Necheles asks about Westerhout's conversations with Rhona Graff from the White House
Q: This didn't have to do with Trump Organization business, did it?
A: No.
Q: This had to do with personal affairs.
She agrees.
Trial adjourns for the day to leave at least a half hour for oral arguments on the motions for a mistrial, to block Karen McDougal's testimony, and to amend the gag order.
Justice Merchan gives his usual instructions to the jury.
Standby for oral arguments.
As Trump leaves, a spectator tells Trump: "God is with you. Stay strong."
The man is escorted out — no outbursts, any outbursts, whatever the content, are allowed in court.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
Trump's attorney Todd Blanche: "The People informed me that they no longer intend to call Ms. McDougal."
That knocks down the pending motions to two.
Blanche wants Trump to be able to respond to what the lawyer describes as a completely new version of events by Stormy Daniels.
Blanche says the only witness left that is the subject of the gag order is Michael Cohen.
"He's going to be asked repeatedly ... about the new issues of consent," he says.
He says "there are voters out there" who will ask him about it.
Assistant DA Christopher Conroy:
It seems like the other side lives in a completely alternate reality.
Conroy:
If someone wants to respond to something that's said, it should happen "in this room"; it shouldn't happen "out there," gesturing to the hallway.
Conroy notes that there are people that will make Trump's case out in the public.
"Unfortunately, we've seen the results" of Trump's public attacks, including explosion and threat cases against the DA's office.
Conroy says the judge "has seen firsthand" about the threats trial participants have faced.
"I spoke to a witness last night, a custodial witness," who puts in records, "who was worried about safety," he says.
Conroy:
"This order is not designed just to protect the witness when they're done" on the witness stand.
Conroy:
"Let's not pretend" that Trump is interested in fostering "high-minded discourse."
Blanche reiterates his claim that Daniels testified about a "completely different version of events."
Justice Merchan challenges him on that point, asking for specifics.
He recites a darker passage from the transcript of her testimony, with the "blacked out" line.
Merchan: "I don't see what you're referring to as a new set of facts, about a new theory of the case."
Justice Merchan:
"My concern is not just about protecting Ms. Daniels. My concern is about protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole. [...]
They are going to see how witnesses who have testified will be treated by your client."
Merchan says he can't just take Blanche's word that Trump's response will be low-key and not an attack.
"That's just not the track record."
He adds later: "Your client's track record speaks for itself."
Request to amend the gag order DENIED.
Next up: The motion for a mistrial.
Blanche says that he can memorialize the defense arguments in writing over the weekend.
Blanche recites the passage of the transcript where Daniels quoted Trump trying to talk her into sex by telling her "f you ever want to get out of that trailer park."
Blanche, with some indignation: "You have jurors who are now hearing about an imbalance of power between a man and a woman."
He says that isn't relevant to the case.
Blanche faults prosecutors for asking "do you remember how your clothes got off," "Is that a memory that has not come back to you" and other inquiries.
"There's no reason for that question, your honor. It shouldn't have been asked."
Merchan notes that he sustained objections after many of the lines Blanche cited.
On Daniels saying Trump didn't wear a condom, Blanche says the defense didn't know there was a series of questions. He calls the line of questions "so prejudicial."
"It's a dog whistle for rape."
ADA Steinglass responds to Trump's lawyer's presentation:
"The claim of ambush is just nonsense. The claim of changing the story is just extraordinarily untrue."
Steinglass:
"This is not a change of story, as they’re trying to characterize it."
What's more, Trump lawyer Susan Necheles probed any inconsistencies in her “very thorough” if “misleading” cross-examination, he adds.
Steinglass argues the details were necessary to back up Daniels' credibility amid Trump's attacks against her:
"Those are the kind of details that make the account more credible."
Steinglass:
"They're basically trying to have their cake and eat it too."
They're trying to claim that Daniels' account is false, while barring details that corroborate the account.
Steinglass defends eliciting testimony about the spank.
If prosecutors didn't do that, the defense would have invoked it to undermine her testimony that she was surprised when the encounter turned sexual.
Steinglass turns to the detail about the condom:
That relates to Daniels' earlier testimony about strict safety measures in the pornographic film industry, another corroborating detail, he says.
Steinglass, emphatically and loudly:
"Those messy details: That is motive."
Steinglass says he's happy to make a sealed record of more salacious details that are "highly corroborative," yet not put into the record, so as to "avoid embarrassing the defendant."
Justice Merchan was about to rule before Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche stands up to respond.
After a short interjection, the judge sits him back down, before pronouncing his ruling.
Justice Merchan says he reviewed his pre-trial motions setting the boundaries surrounding the admission of evidence as trial, known as motions in limine.
Judge:
Mr. Blanche, you denied that there was a sexual encounter between Stormy Daniels and the defendant.
Merchan notes that Blanche made that remark in opening statement, leaving a controversy for the jury about whom to believe.
Justice Merchan notes that Trump's lawyer didn't object to objectionable remarks multiple times:
"There were many times, not once or twice, when Ms. Necheles could have objected, but didn't."
Merchan notes that he objected "sua sponte" (of his own accord) after Ms. Daniels' remark about the "trailer park."
When she did object, the judge said: "Virtually every single one of her objections was sustained."
Merchan notes there was no objection of the line of questioning about the condom:
Why she wouldn't object to a mention of the condom I don't understand
Merchan notes that, at a sidebar conference, prosecutors wanted to bring in a 2019 documentary about Roger Ailes called "Bombshell," addressing the sexual harassment scandal.
The judge immediately ruled he wouldn't let that in.
"I did that to protect your client," he says.
Judge:
Your motion for a mistrial is DENIED.
Trump exits.
See you tomorrow morning.
by ti-amie It should be noted that both Adam Klasfeld and Katie Phang work for MSNBC. Phang has her own show and Klasfeld has been working with Lawrence O'Donnell since the trial started.
by ti-amie Phang adds a bit more nuance to her report of the issues raised after the jury is excused.
Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
The lawyers have returned now that the jury has left for the day.
The first issue has been resolved: The prosecution has decided NOT to call Karen McDougal as a witness.
The second issue: Trump wants to be able to respond to Stormy Daniels by amending the gag order.
BLANCHE: “There’s voters out there and there’s questioners that will ask him questions about it, and he can’t say anything.”
Blanche: Daniels' friend was on TV last night talking about what happened and corroborating what Daniels said.
The prosecution:
CONROY: “Modifying the gag order now to attack Ms. Daniels… “let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse”
CONROY: The fact that witnesses are brave enough to come in here, under subpoena and under oath, “Shouldn’t expose them to this defendant’s barrage of threats.”
MERCHAN: “My concern is not just with protecting Ms. Daniels or a witness who has already testified. My concern is protecting the integrity of the proceedings as a whole."
MERCHAN: I can't take your word for it that it’s going to be low key, that it's not going to be an attack. Because “that’s just not the track record.”
MERCHAN: “Your client’s track record speaks for itself. I can’t take your word for it.”
Judge Merchan: Your application to modify the gag order is DENIED.
On to Issue 3: The Defense's renewed motion for a mistrial.
BLANCHE: the idea that the completely made-up encounter with President trump “may have been nonconsensual?”
BLANCHE: Before the testimony started we objected again and the Court indicated it would allow testimony about it, but said we don’t need to know the details of the intercourse, and Hoffinger said that’s correct.
BLANCHE: We don't need to know the details of what the suite looked like and this is extremely prejudicial testimony, this is not a case about sex. whether or not it happened has nothing to do with this case
BLANCHE: “This wasn’t a witness that was out of control.” she was answering the prosecution’s questions
MERCHAN: there was an objection and it was sustained. After many of these anecdotes, there were objections that were sustained
BLANCHE: But jury still heard the answers, that’s why this is so prejudicial
Steinglass responds: In the Defense Opening Statement: the defense invited the testimony they are now trying to exclude: They claimed in their opening that her story was false but are now trying to exclude the details that corroborate that the story is true.
STEINGLASS: The prosecution went out of their way to avoid certain details even though they were highly corroborative.
STEINGLASS: The People are happy to file something under seal “About some of the very salacious details that were intentionally omitted because we did not have the desire to embarrass the defendant”
STEINGLASS: “The defense has not alleged anything remotely approaching grounds for a mistrial, and their motion should be denied.”
MERCHAN: “Following your motion for a mistrial on Tuesday, I went back to chambers, I pulled out my decisions on both motions for limine, the omnibus decision, and the transcript from Tuesday.”
MERCHAN: I went back to make sure that there were guidelines and no inconsistencies and after having done so, I came away satisfied, let me back up – ….
Going back to opening statements, Mr. Blanche in your opening statement, you denied there was ever a sexual encounter between your defendant and Stormy Daniels.
“Your denial puts the jury in a position of having to choose who they believe: Donald Trump, who denies that there was an encounter, or Stormy Daniels, who claims that there was.”
The more specificity Daniels provides the better than can weigh her credibility.
MERCHAN: “There were many times, not once or twice, but many times that Ms. Necheles could have objected, but didn’t.”
MERCHAN: "Trailer park." I felt that was not necessary but there was no objection but i had it struck from the record , and virtually every one of Necheles objections was sustained
MERCHAN: "I disagree that there has been a change in Daniels' story."
MERCHAN: You didn’t attack that there was a falsification of business records, you didn't attack any other lines of defense.
MERCHAN: You said my client never had a sexual encounter: that pits your client against Ms. Daniels. So the prosecution can rehabilitate her credibility.
MERCHAN: “YOUR MOTION FOR A MISTRIAL IS DENIED. I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW AT 9:30”
by
ti-amie From someone who doesn't work for MSNBC. I have to find his profile on Xitter. That they are his reposts is made clear.
Laffy
@
GottaLaff@mastodon.social
73/ McB:
Conroy up now: It seems the other side lives in almost an alternate reality.
Conroy wants to look back at why the order was an issue in the first place, and says that it has been somewhat successful thus far.
This is where facts are brought out, and if someone wants to respond to something someone
said in this room, it should happen in this room, not out there, Conroy says.
74/ McB:
We have been told repeatedly by witnesses—even in the courtroom, even on the stand—about their fear, Conroy says. Even with a witness today, there was something with her home address on it, and you could see the fear in her eyes.
He does it selfishly with no concern about the safety of the people he's attacking, and unfortunately we have seen the results, Conroy says.
75/ McB:
Conroy brings up the NYPD's explosion in threat cases about the number of threats against the members of the DA's office and their families. I had a conversation with a
custodial witness last night concerned about their safety, Conroy says.
Modifying this gag order now in the middle of trial would signal to future witnesses that they could be at risk as well, says Conroy.
76/ McB:
He cites a DC circuit case about "hostile messages" that have an effect of "deterring, chilling, or altering the involvement" of witnesses.
77 McB:
The gag order is not just designed to protect the witness until they walkoff the stand, or to protect the proceedings part of the way, Conroy says.
Modifying the gag order now is for Trump to attack Daniels—that's what he wants to do,
let's not pretend he wants to engage in high-minded discourse,
Conroy says.
78/ McB:
Blanche is back now, and he says everything we just heard in different in kind from what they're requesting.
In this case, a narrowly tailored gag order, the court should be constantly making sure its terms remain in effect, Blanche says.
79/ McB:
A completely different set of events, Merchan repeats, What exactly are you referring to?
For example, transcript pg 2610, Blanche cites, "at first I was just startled, jump-scare...room spin in slow motion...felt the blood leave my hands and my feet."
What she had previously said, Blanche says, hinting that he's now getting to the mistrial motion, was "ugh, here we go, we started kissing, I hope he doesn't try to pay me."
Merchan: Help me understand how it's different.
Blanche: One is about consent, and one is not.
81/ McB:
Merchan wants to take the issues one-by-one so we stay on the gag order
It's interesting what Mr Conroy said, bc I wrote the same thing from the book down, Merchan says. My concern is protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole
Other witnesses, incl but not only Michael Cohen, will see your client doing whatever he intends to do, Merchan says.
I can't take your word for it that this is going to be low key, this is going to be a response, bc that's not the track record
82/ McB:
These were very real, very threatening attacks on witnesses, so
I can't take your word for it, Merchan says, while saying he is still concerned by some witnesses using the gag order as a sword, not a shield.
(...)
Application to modify gag order is DENIED.
83/ McB:
Merchan will now hear motion for a mistrial.
Blanche starts by saying he will put something together over the weekend explaining why this trial cannot go forward in light of Daniels' testimony.
Blanche cites Merchan's finding that Daniels' testimony not only completes the narrative of events, but is also probative of the defendant's intent, but says he alerted the court and the government of Daniels' contradicting previous claims.
84/ McB:
Blanche says this new story is about how "this completely made up encounter with President Trump may have been nonconsensual," which they learned from the documentary, at which point they previously objected. Prosecution and court promised not to get into the details, then did.
85/ McB:
Questions about whether the encounter brought up Daniels' difficult childhood, Daniels spanking Trump, it almost defies belief that we're here about a records case and the government is asking questions about an incident that happened in 2006, that we don't even believe happened
87/ McB:
Blanche continues, This is extremely prejudicial testimony. This is not a case about sex. This is not about whether that encounter took place or didn't take place. Whether it happened or not has nothing to do with the charges in this case.
88/ Bower:
Blanche mentions, for example, the prosecution asking about Daniels supposedly spanking Trump with a magazine. And he says they elicited too much detail about the hotel suite -- what the inside of the bathroom in Trump's suite looked like, for example.
And the story Daniels told on the stand is not the story that Rodriguez, Howard, and Cohen were told back when the NDA was formed. So it's not relevant, Blanche insists.
89/ McB:
Blanche reads more of Daniels' testimony, calling it "extremely prejudicial" again, and testimony that has nothing to do with the motive of entering the NDA.
Klasfeld:
Blanche recites the passage of the transcript where Daniels quoted Trump trying to talk her into sex by telling her "
f you ever want to get out of that trailer park."
90/ Klasfeld:
Blanche, with some indignation: "You have jurors who are now hearing about an imbalance of power between a man and a woman."
He says that isn't relevant to the case.
91/ Bower adds a little more:
She talked about power imbalance, Blanche says, but none of that goes to motive or intent because that's not what she was saying at the time of the NDA.
92/ McB:
We didn't know these q's were coming, Blanche cont's. We had a sense from documentary that she was changing her story, & we alerted the court, but we were hearing this for 1st time.
He's repeating himself, but Merchan lets him continue.
"There was an objection, and it was sustained," Merchan cuts in. "In fact after many of these anecdotes, there was an objection and it was sustained."
But it was still said, Blanche pleads, that's why this testimony is so dangerous, so prejudicial.
93/ McB:
"It was so prejudicial—it was a dog whistle for rape," Blanche says. [Me: Rape. Gee. Ya think?]
Let's hear from the people, Merchan says.
"Ok so that was a lot, and most of it, just flat out untrue," Steinglass says.
94/ McB:
The claim of ambush is just nonsense, says Steinglass. The claim of changing the story is also extraordinarily untrue. As any witness telling a story, there are details in one form and not in another form. And anyway, the defense has had access to all of this.
95/ McB:
Moving on to the mistrial motion, Steinglass says, it has always been their contention that the details of the two-hour convo that Daniels and Trump had in the hotel suite corroborate her account that a) the fact that the sex happens (which increases motivation to silence her)...
96/ McB:
These are the details that make her account more credible, and the defense has gone to great length to discredit her, Steinglass says with some force, some oomph in his voice.
97/ McB:
They're trying to have their cake and eat it too. They're trying to discredit Daniels that her story is false, then preclude the prosecution from eliciting the details that would corroborate her story, Steinglass says.
98/ Press:
Prosecutor: The claim of ambush is nonsense. OK there were details omitted from InTouch, but in Anderson Cooper. This is not a change of story. Ms. Necheles' thorough but misleading cross tested it. That the sex happened increases the motivation to silence her
99/ McB:
Necheles was cherry-picking the details she thought were inconsistent and omitting the details that were consistent, Steinglass says. The overarching point here is the details are the tools the jury needs to assess her credibility.
100/ McB:
Those messy details were Trump's motive to silence this woman in 2016, less than a month before the election, says Steinglass. The fact that the testimony is prejudicial and messy, according to Blanche, that's exactly why Trump tried to prevent the American ppl from hearing it.
There were lots of details about a lot of things, but not about the actual encounter. By Steinglass counts, there were only 8 questions about it.
101/ McB:
There are other details I don't want to put on the record, but I'm happy to put in a sealed record the very salacious details we omitted out of a desire not to embarrass the defendant, Steinglass says.
102/ Klasfeld:
Steinglass defends eliciting testimony about the spank.
If prosecutors didn't do that, the defense would have invoked it to undermine her testimony that she was surprised when the encounter turned sexual.
Steinglass turns to the detail about the condom:
That relates to Daniels' earlier testimony about strict safety measures in the pornographic film industry, another corroborating detail, he says.
Steinglass, emphatically and loudly:
"Those messy details: That is MOTIVE."
103/ Klasfeld:
Steinglass says he's happy to make a sealed record of more salacious details that are "highly corroborate," yet not put into the record, so as to "avoid embarrassing the defendant."
104/ Press:
Prosecutor: We went out of our way to avoid some of the salacious details, to not embarrass the defendant with the details of the sexual act. At one point she was asked did you feel anything difference. She was going to say, I felt the skin of a 60 year old man
Prosecutor: We could put in an exparte submission of more embarrassing details we omitted, to not embarrass the defendant. Ms McDouglas was on our witness list but we never said we intended to call her
(Rehash of info already provided by Phang and Klasfeld re lack of objections by defense)
111/ McB:
On the blacking out comment, for some reason, I don't know why, you went into it ad nauseam on cross-examination, Merchan says, drilling it into the jury's ears over and over.
Bower:
What's more, the witness immediately said that there was no coercive force and that she didn't feel threatened. And Necheles elicited that same testimony over and over again on cross, he observes.
(The condom, the Ailes documentary info already posted above)
114/ Klasfeld:
"Your motion for a mistrial is denied," Justice Merchan announces.
by
ti-amie The testimony by Ms Westerhout was very interesting.
Laffy
@
GottaLaff@mastodon.social
34/ McB:
Westerhout says she sat in the "outer Oval Office," and points out on the floor plan where her desk was—it's just about as close as you could get to the Oval Office w/o being in Oval Office.
Also in the outer Oval: Hope Hicks, John McEntee, and Keith Schiller.
Dan Scavino was "one of the president's very trusted advisors," he did a lot of Trump's communications and to "get tweets out," says Westerhout.
35/ McB:
Q: As Trump's special assistant and executive assistant, was the president your only focus?
A: I tried to have it be my only focus. (she laughs nervously)
Q: Did you have job training or orientation?
A: Not formally, no, she says she observed Hicks, Scavino, and others to learn
36/ McB:
We progress in time through Westerhout's CV: eventually she became director of oval office operations, and her desk changed with her title.
Q: Did you develop an understnading of Trump's work habits and preferences?
A: I hope so
Q: His relationships and contacts?
A: Yes
37/ McB:
His social media presence? The way he interacted with his family? Yes and yes.
Back to his work habits. Westerhout says he preferred speaking with people in person, or on the phone. He took "a lot" of phone calls in the day, starting as early as 6am and late into the night.
38/ McB:
There's a "rather complicated process," to call the president, says Westerhout.
One way is to call Westerhout's desk, and she would patch them through.
But John Smith on the street calling 1-800-WHITEHOUSE wouldn't just be patched right through.
McB:
Q: Did Mr Trump use a computer?
A: Not to my knowledge.
Q: Did Mr Trump have an email account?
A: Not to my knowledge.
She says Trump liked hard-copy documents, and liked to read, in fact his job in 2017 required quite a lot of it.
Westerhout says Trump wanted to keep the Resolute Desk "pristine," and only for meetings, so he would do a lot of his reading and other work in the "dining room," just off the Oval Office.
40/ McB:
Was he organized?
To my understanding, the president knew where things were,
but he had a lot of papers he would take with him.
Did he have attention to detail? Yes.
Signing practices? By hand—he liked to use Sharpies or a Pentel felt tip pen, says Westerhout.
41/
Bower:
Trump used soc media, mainly Twitter, in 2017. He posted tweets himself using that handle.
Did anyone else have access to that account? Scavino. But other than that, Westerhout doesn't have knowledge of anyone else having access.
McB:
With the exception of the nervous laugh earlier, Westerhout is composed, clear, answering graciously and thoroughly, but never with excess detail.
42/ Okay, be back soon.
43/
Catching up, via Phang:
MANGOLD: Signature practices, did he use an automated signature or sign by himself? WESTERHOUT: he signed by himself
MANGOLD: particular type of pen? WESTERHOUT: sharpies or pentel felt tip
MANGOLD: Did he typically read things before signing them? WESTERHOUT: “Um, y-yes”
44/ Phang:
MANGOLD: Did mr. trump use social media while he was in the white house?
WESTERHOUT: He did yes. Primarily Twitter, now called X
MANGOLD: Did mr. trump post tweets himself using that twitter handle? WESTERHOUT: He did yes.
MANGOLD: Did he post things himself? WESTERHOUT: Yes
45/ Phang:
MANGOLD: Did anyone else have access to ealdonaldtrump in 2017? WESTERHOUT: My understanding is that Dan Scavino had access. MANGOLD: Did you ever see Mr. Scavino post a tweet without mr. trump’s approval? WESTERHOUT: I didn’t see the president or dan post every single tweet.
46/ Phang:
WESTERHOUT: If Dan [Scavino] wasn't available or around, the president would call me in and dictate a tweet to me, and then I would go back to my computer and type it up and print it out, and give it back to him so he could go over it.
“[Trump] liked to use exclamation points”
MANGOLD: Did he have particular preferences to his posts? WESTERHOUT: Certain words he liked to capitalize including "Country", he liked to use dots for a comma
47/ Phang:
Q: How frequently were you in touch with Trump Org A: Rhona and I spoke at least weekly sometimes daily at beginning of 2017. But that drifted off as I got into role. I was an intermediary when Trump had questions for Trump Org employees and vice versa. Rhona and i coordinated on his travel schedule, golf schedule, personal mail, the first family’s schedule, his calendar, his contacts.
48/ Phang:
Westerhout confirms Trump's contacts list, including Allen Weisselberg, David Pecker, and Michael Cohen, and...Jeanine Pirro.
Westerhout testifies about a 2/5/17 email to Michael Cohen confirming a meeting between Cohen and Trump and asking for the kind of details necessary for admitting a guest to the White House. Westerhout does not specifically recall seeing Cohen when he came, but she agrees the meeting happened.
49/ Phang:
PEOPLE’S EXHIBIT 319 TEXT MESSAGE BETWEEN HOPE HICKS AND WESTERHOUT WESTERHOUT TEXT TO HICKS: “Hey the president wants to know if you called David pecker again?”
50/ Phang:
MANGOLD: What is your understanding of how Mr. trump’s personal expenses were handled in 2017? WESTERHOUT: it is my understanding they were handled by checks that were sent from the trump organization to Keith Schiller, and then sent to me for the president to sign.
51/ Phang:
MANGOLD: what did you do when you recived the checks? WESTERHOUT: The checks came in a fed ex envelope, so i opened the envelope and inside is a manilla folder with a stack of checks, and i brought the folder in for him to sign.
MANGOLD: Anything other than checks? WESTERHOUT: I didn’t really dig around in the folder, but there were invoices attached to the check sometimes
52/ Phang:
MANGOLD: Did you ever see trump sign check WESTERHOUT: Yes sometimes
MANGOLD: Did mr. Trump sign checks by hand? WESTERHOUT: Yes
MANGOLD: What happened after mr. trump signed the checks WESTERHOUT: He would give it back to me and i would put it in a prelabeled return envelope and send it back to trump org.
Westerhout talks about how Trump would approve things as minor as a golf membership while he was in the Oval Office.
53/ Phang:
MANGOLD: trump’s reaction to stormy daniels story? WESTERHOUT: “I remember he was very upset by it.”
MANGOLD: Do you recall if mr. trump spoke to michael cohen around the time the story came out WESTERHOUT: I believe they spoke around that time yes
MANGOLD: Did you interact with mrs trump WESTERHOUT: I did, yes. WESTERHOUT: “He was my boss but she was definitely the one in charge”
54/ A LOT more detail from McB:
How would you describe Trump and Melania's relationship?
It was one of mutual respect, he cared about her opinion,
and there was no one else who could put him in his place.
He was my boss, but she was in charge. Their relationship was really special, they laughed a lot.
55/ Sorry, now catching up to McB. A lot.
Q: Did Trump's relationship with Melania change when the Stormy Daniels story came out?
A: Not to my knowledge, no.
Westerhout begins to break down and cry as she recounts the circumstances of her departure from the White House.
She learned a lot from her "indiscretions," she says.
56/ McB:
She had said some things she wasn't supposed to during what she believed to be an off-the-record dinner with a reporter, she says.
She wipes her tears. She seems genuinely regretful about the whole episode.
She wrote a book about it, she says, her voice shakey and faultering, and we see the cover now displayed:
Off the Record: My Dream Job at the White House, How I Lost It, and What I Learned
57/ McB:
She thought it was important to share with the American people that the man that I got to know. I don't think he was treated fairly, and I wanted to tell that story she says, through more tears.
Since publication, Westerhout says she spoke to Trump at a fundraiser in Orange County, but says that she did not discuss this case.
No further questions from Mangold.
58/ McB:
Before she walks up to the lectern, Necheles asks whether Westerhout would like a break.
No, Merchan says, but we're going to stop at 4 o'clock.
Q: You were very young, and you made a mistake?
A: Yes.
Q: You thought he was great to work for, and a great president?
A: Yes, she says, more tears.
59/ McB:
Back to the 2016 nomination, the transition, and the Access Hollywood tape.
Q: You testifed that it rattled the RNC leadership, and there were a couple days of consternation, but that happened all the time?
A: Yes.
Q: When Trump was running, there was always some event when—Necheles claps her hands and wipes them clean—there was total consternation.
She is familiar, friendly with Westerhout. Much friendlier than she was with Daniels, (of course).
60/ McB:
Necheles reminds Westerhout of Trump's apology for "locker talk," and that he said he would see everyone at debates and Westerhout laughs, as if she remembers it fondly.
The Access Hollywood tape "blew over in a couple days," and after that Trump won the election right?
A: Yes.
61/ McB:
The clock is ticking, we have 9 minutes left according to Merchan, and Merchan is always on time, if not early.
Necheles talks fast, getting more questions in. It was a busy time? Yes. You were called "the greeter girl," correct? Yes. Wasn't it a little belittling? Yeah.
I tried not to let it get to me, but people said I was unqualified, Westerhout says about the "greeter girl" nickname.
62/ McB:
Trump was also transitioning his companies into a trust, Necheles asks, but Westerhout says, not to her knowledge. She wasn't involved in the business side.
Westerhout says Trump only had two and a half months to transition from running the Trump Organization to becoming president. Necheles keeps portraying it as a hectic, busy time, with lots of distractions.
63/ McB:
It was amazing working with Trump, she says, smiling. I think—I—I hadn't spent any time with him, I don't know if anyone should feel like they deserve they should be in the West Wing, but Trump always made me feel like I belonged, especially in a place with a lot of older men.
64/ McB:
We now get a portrait of Trump, the family man.
He had a close relationship with his children, and a lovely relationship with his wife? Yes, definitely, Westerhout says.
Westerhout paints a touching scene: Trump would be on the phone w/ his wife, & would tell her to come to the window in the residence, where she could look across and see Trump in the Oval Office. He would also call his wife to tell her he's boarding AF1, though he didn't have to
65/ Just... wow.
McB:
Right on schedule, Merchan stops it there.
We end with an image of Trump the family man from Westerhout's testimony, which couldn't be further from this morning's depiction of Trump the philanderer and bully of Daniels' testimony.
66/ Bower:
The jurors are done, but the parties are not.
Merchan says we'll take a 10 minute break. When we return, I assume Blanche will raise the issues he alluded to at lunch regarding (1) Renewed mistrial motion, (2) blocking McDougal's testimony, and (3) a gag order matter.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Good morning from New York.
Stormy Daniels finished her testimony. Karen McDougal's off the witness list, and on Thursday, trial proceedings wrapped with Madeleine Westerhout still on the stand.
I'm inside the courtroom, today and every day, picking up where we left off.
Explanation on McDougal, for those who missed the end of proceedings yesterday:
Without explanation, Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche said prosecutors informed him they won't be calling her. The payoff to McDougal isn't directly tied to the 34 falsifying records charges.
Trump enters the courtroom, flanked by his lawyers.
"All rise."
Justice Merchan walks to the bench, and the attorneys register their appearances.
Per the press pool
Trump "
gnored questions about whether he would accept Stormy's challenge to testify," at the morning press conference.
Later: "'If I put one wrong word in, they're gonna put me on jail,' he said, while trying to read from Byron York column.
Trump, per the pool: "I'll go now sit in that freezing courtroom for 8 or 9 hours and think about being on the campaign all day."
Honestly, during the first days of trial, Trump had a point on the temperature.
Now? Not so much.
The parties immediately have a lengthy sidebar conference.
(The official transcripts will probably be up later tonight as usual)
As the sidebar ends, Justice Merchan prompts: "Okay, let's get the witness, please."
Westerhout re-enters.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
8h
Trump's attorney Susan Necheles resumes her cross:
Westerhout speaks about her work with the RNC during Trump's campaign, and she agrees with Necheles' characterization that Trump and the party worked together as "one unit."
This was after Trump became the party's nominee.
On Thursday, Westerhout said the RNC considered plans to replace Trump after the "Access Hollywood" tape landed.
"It's my recollection that there were conversations about how to, if it was needed, how it would be possible to replace him as the candidate if it came to that."
It seemed that cross-examination was headed toward mitigating the blow of that testimony, but Necheles quickly pivoted to another subject following her questions about the RNC.
Prosecutors object to the admission of a piece of evidence, but it's unclear what it is.
They ask for a sidebar. They get one, and the parties huddle.
We're back.
Necheles shows Westerhout a travel schedule for Trump.
Prosecutors are fighting the admission of the travel schedules.
Westerhout says she didn't receive them, and asked whether she remembered the one she was shown, she said only since her lawyer showed it to her this morning. Not contemporaneously.
ADA Mangold: "We object."
Another sidebar follows.
Merchan, after the sidebar conference:
"Your motion to introduce this evidence is denied."
Q: Wasn't that a problem, getting mail to President Trump to the White House?
A: Yes.
Westerhout agrees with Trump's lawyer that the system of FedEx-ing checks to the former president's bodyguard Keith Schiller was a way to facilitate deliveries promptly.
It was a "workaround," Necheles says.
Westerhout agrees.
Service advisory: Wi-Fi down.
Toward the end of Westerhout's testimony, Trump's attorney asked a series of questions prompting her to say that the former president worried about the effect the Stormy Daniels story would have on his family.
It had a mixed result.
Westerhout duly agreed the matter upset Trump "because he knew it would be hurtful to his family" — but she also said he never told her that.
"I don’t think he specifically said that, but I could understand that the whole situation was very unpleasant," she said.
The second part of that answer was stricken following the prosecution's objection.
On redirect, Assistant DA Rebecca Mangold pushed back against the defense's claim that the FedEx-ed checks to Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller were simply a workaround for the slow process of White House mail.
The other benefit of system: Skipping the typical screening process.
Asked if the system would have that effect, Westerhout replied: "That’s right."
The prosecutor also elicited another detail about Westerhout's ongoing loyalty to Trump. She works for American Global Strategies, as Chief of Staff to the Chairman, Amb. Robert O’Brien.
O'Brien is a former National Security Advisor for Trump.
On recross, Necheles ended with the image of Trump as a family man.
Q: Just to reiterate: President Trump was very close to his family, right?
A: Yes.
by ti-amie Up now for the prosecution:
— Daniel Dixon, another custodial witness who works as a compliance analyst AT&T
We're starting to see phone records.
On cross, Trump's lawyer Emil Bove presses the witness on alternative explanations for the records.
Q: You're familiar with the concept of a pocket dial, right?
A: Correct.
Q: There's a lot of data here, but the data has limits, right?
The witness says they are logs.
The witness ends his testimony.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg makes a rare entrance into the courtroom.
The next witness: Jennie Tomalin, at Verizon.
More phone records.
Morning recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
7h
Wi-Fi and backup appear to be down.
Expect delays.
The internet appears to be ready for the weekend.
by ti-amie The People recall the DA's paralegal to introduce more Trump social media posts.
Trump's tweets denigrating Maggie Haberman and Michael Cohen are entered into evidence — also a tweet about Cohen suggesting that he won't flip.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
The last witness of the week: Jarden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal for the DA's office.
He's been called to submit a chart illustrating what the phone records show.
Once released, this will be an important exhibit.
Trump's lawyer Emil Bove cross-examines the witness, asking whether the rather painstaking work of putting vast reams of data together was tedious.
"Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it," the witness says, to laughter.
Bove: "I hear that. Respect." (laughter)
That does it for another week of witness testimony in Trump's criminal trial.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass says he plans to call two more witnesses:
"I think it's entirely possible that we will rest by the end of next week."
Trump's attorney Emil Bove notes that one of them isn't Allen Weisselberg, whose "absence" from this trial raises a "very complicated" question.
Bove wants to keep out their separation agreement as prejudicial hearsay.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy says it's needed to show: "Mr. Weisselberg’s interests here are very aligned with the defendant’s."
During closing arguments, Conroy says, the defense is likely going to raise questions about Weisselberg's absence.
The prosecutor says the agreement explains his absence.
Bove says Weisselberg is absent "because the DA's office initiated perjury prosecution in the leadup to this case."
"It's just a rabbit hole that I think is unnecessary," he says.
Judge notes, without saying it this way, that there's no reason an incarcerated witness can't testify.
"Has anyone attempted to get him to come in, by serving him with a subpoena or some other way?" he asked.
Neither side has.
Bove points out the defense has no burden, and he resists some sort of negotiated stipulation informing jurors that Weisselberg is in jail for perjury.
The prosecutor resists subpoenaing him and putting him up there "cold," in light of his restrictive Trump Org agreement.
ADA Josh Steinglass says he's "repeatedly, repeatedly" asked the witnesses not to do this.
"The fact is, the witnesses are not subject to the gag order," and prosecutors cannot control them.
Justice Merchan:
"I would direct the People to inform Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him" to refrain from making public statements about Trump — and that "comes from the bench."
With that, have a nice weekend...
by ti-amie A little more detail from Phang about the Weisselberg situation (I thought Adam was a bit confusing)
Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
·
5h
After the jury is excused, the lawyers begin to argue over the admission into evidence of Allen Weisselberg's severance agreement.
BOVE: We are objecting to relevance, this agreement is after the fact and it is prejudicial, as he is in prison and not available anyway.
Prosecution: We’re looking to explain to the jury, from our perspective, why Weisselberg isn’t here…there are three payments due to Weisselberg this calendar year…if you look at the agreement in section 3b, "employee promises not to denigrate company verbally or in writing or any of its entities..."
[ME: In other words, if AW wants his severance payments, he cannot disparage any of its officers, directors, employees, etc." and "except for acts directly compelled by subpoena, he will not communicate with or otherwise cooperate with in any way, including through his counsel, with any person or entity with adverse claims against Trump." So that's why he isn't at the trial...]
CONROY: if [defense] counsel prefers, we’d be willing to stipulate that Weisselberg is in jail for perjury
MERCHAN: that would be one way to solve the problem
STEINGLASS: While it is true we could subpoena AW, the severance agreement precludes us from talking to him...That agreement has a “palpable connection” to why this could be an exercise in futility
MERCHAN: One way to deal with it is do it out of the presence of the jury and question him that way.
STEINGLASS: we’d still be calling a witness to the stand who is under no obligation to discuss his testimony with us.
MERCHAN: Right now we are “speculating” that he will honor the agreement, what advice he may be given by counsel. “It’s difficult to rule” right now.
BOVE: Mr. Weisselberg has never been on the govt witness list and then to get around and try to add him to the witness list...
MERCHAN: I don’t see how one thing has to do with the other, this is done with some frequency. The only way to know is to put him on the stand without the jury, under oath.
BOVE: We were entitled to notice of that long before this trial started
MERCHAN: You didn't think that was a possibility?
BOVE: “Not based on the witness list, no”
by ti-amie Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
The lawyers then move on to the Defense complaining about Michael Cohen and Trump's gag order:
BLANCHE: With respect to Mr. Cohen, stating the obvious regarding the gag order, Mr Cohen continues to speak publicly about this trial and about Mr. Trump. we request that he be prohibited from talking the same way mr trump is, not only stop extrajudicial statement from lawyers but witnesses as well.
BLANCHE: “It’s becoming a problem every single day” that President Trump is not allowed to respond to cohen but cohen can keep talking. and he has stated he will stop talking but he doesnt and we ask the court to order him to stop talking until the case is over….
STEINGLASS: we have repeatedly asked the witnesses not to do that, not just Cohen, and we have no control over what they do,
MERCHAN: I would direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from communicating about this case
STEINGALSS: We will do so
by ti-amie
During opening statements, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo promised jurors Cohen's account would be backed up by an "extensive paper trail of bank records, emails, text messages, phone logs, business documents and other records."
Colangelo also told jurors when trial began that Cohen's account would be corroborated by other witness testimony, along with Trump's books, speeches, and social media posts.
Trump's attorney Todd Blanche vowed to show jurors:
"The $35,000 a month was not a payback to Mr. Cohen for the money that he gave to Ms. Daniels."
Jurors have now seen two sworn statements by Trump — and one of the former president's tweets — all describing "reimbursement."
On April 22, Blanche also mentioned that Cohen "said that he wanted to see President Trump in an orange jumpsuit. That was last night."
History repeats itself: On Friday, Blanche complained that Cohen posted a TikTok of Trump in an orange jumpsuit—on the eve of testimony.
That earned Cohen a rebuke from Justice Merchan, who told prosecutors to convey that the judge asked him from the bench to stop doing that.
Cohen's social media swipes at Trump are almost certain to be an extensive part of cross-ex.
Now—
Trump enters the courtroom, stands next to the defense table and surveys the gallery.
In the front row behind him are Eric Trump and Alina Habba.
Making a rare appearance today:
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
Bragg also appeared in court on Friday, during testimony by his paralegals entering evidence into the record backing up Cohen's account.
"All rise."
Justice Merchan enters, and the attorneys register their appearances.
Judge DENIES prosecutors' bid to allow Allen Weisselberg's separation agreement with the Trump Organization into evidence.
"This would be used to explain why somebody is not here," the judge notes.
Neither side has subpoenaed Weisselberg, who's jailed for perjury.
Prosecutors wanted to put the separation agreement into evidence to argue that it constrains what Weisselberg can say — and explain to jurors why they didn't call him.
With that out of the way, the court awaits the jury's entrance.
NOW
"The People call Michael Cohen."
Michael Cohen enters the courtroom, walks to the witness and raises his right hand to be sworn.
"Yes, I do," Cohen responds to the familiar vow.
When asked to identify Trump, Cohen stands up, cranes his neck and glances at the defense table.
He identifies Trump by his suit.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
Cohen describes his early legal work at the firm Phillips, Nizer — and how he started working for Trump on "some legal" and "some non-legal matters."
Q: Did he pay you for that work?
A: No, ma'am.
Cohen says that after he broached billing Trump for that work when he was with Phillips, Nizer:
"He asked me if I wanted to get fired on the first day [...] if I asked about the bill."
Eventually, Cohen got the position of Trump's "special counsel," negotiating a salary of $375k base salary with a bonus to be discussed.
It ultimately added up to $525k, Cohen says.
Asked to whom he reported, Cohen said: "Just to Mr. Trump."
One Cohen's tasks on the job, he says, was renegotiating bills and invoices.
"He didn't believe that the invoice was fair, reasonable, justified," Cohen said. "He would give me the task of renegotiating a specific bill."
Cohen recalls Trump telling him, "It's fantastic. It's incredible," when he successfully renegotiated bills and invoices.
Q: How did that make you feel?
A: Like I was on top of the world.
Cohen testifies about threatening to sue companies and individuals for Trump, including someone from the Miss Universe pageant and reporters.
"I would express to them the need to redact or take the article down."
Referring to Cohen's threats to journalists, the prosecutor asks: "Did you do that in a strong and threatening manner sometimes?"
"I would say so, not all the time," Cohen says, slightly pausing before adding. "Often."
Asked whether Trump was a "micromanager," Cohen replies: "Yes, ma'am."
Cohen says he would call him "Boss" and "Mr. Trump."
"Working for him was an amazing experience in many, many ways," he says, describing the company as a "big family."
Asked whether Cohen lied for Trump, Cohen replies yes, because it was sometimes needed to "accomplish the task."
"The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task, to keep him happy."
Prosecutor Hoffinger asks Cohen to authentic his cell phone numbers, suggesting text-message evidence can't be far away.
In addition to text messages previously entered into evidence, Cohen's phone logs also entered the record on Friday, showing him on the phone with Trump twice on Oct. 26, 2016.
That will be key evidence for prosecutors, and an almost-certain topic of Cohen's testimony.
Cohen testifies that he and Trump decided to sync his contacts into his phone, leading him to have more than 30K contacts in his phone at one time.
Cohen authenticates his email addresses, past and current.
Q: Mr. Cohen, do you know someone named David Pecker?
A: Yes, I do.
Cohen says he's known Pecker even longer than he's known Trump.
Cohen says that he and Pecker sometimes communicated via Signal, the encrypted messaging app that they thought would be untraceable.
Q: Would you say you had a good relationship with Mr. Pecker?
A: Yes, I would.
Cohen says that he also knew the Enquirer's then-editor in chief Dylan Howard, whom he remembers working for Pecker.
Cohen says he also chatted with Howard sometimes via Signal:
"For the same reason, it was a sensitive matter that we wanted to keep private."
Cohen: "One of the things that I noticed is that it's very white."
He says he started a National Diversity Coalition for Trump with Pastor Darrell Scott.
Cohen quotes Trump warning him that, as he announces his presidential campaign: "There's going to be a lot of women coming forward."
Questioning turns to what appears to be the Trump Tower meeting from August 2015.
Cohen quotes David Pecker saying at the meeting: "He would be able to help us know in advance what's coming out and stop it from coming out."
Cohen says Trump was pleased with the Enquirer's stories elevating him and trashing his then-primary rivals.
"It's fantastic. That's unbelievable," Cohen quotes Trump telling him.
Questioning turns to Trump's doorman Dino Sajudin, who was paid $30,000 to silence a false story about Trump supposedly having a child out of wedlock.
Asked whether Trump was grateful that AMI quashed that story, Cohen responds: "Absolutely."
Cohen describes reviewing Sajudin's agreement:
"I reviewed it to make sure that Mr. Trump was fully protected."
Cohen says he pushed for AMI to include a major liquidated damages penalty and a provision granting them the rights in perpetuity.
Q: Did AMI agree to include that term in the agreement as well?
A: They did.
Jurors are attentive — and the "tennis match" dynamic is fully visible from the gallery.
Their eyes dart to prosecutor Hoffinger, as she asks a question, and to Cohen, when he answers them. Their eyes hit the screens when there is evidence to review.
Questioning turns to Karen McDougal:
Cohen says he learned about her allegations through David Pecker and Dylan Howard — specifically, that she's a Playboy playmate and there was a story about a relationship she had with Trump.
Cohen says he talked to Trump about it "immediately"
He recalls saying, "Boss, I've got to talk to you," and telling Trump what he just learned.
"His response to me was, 'She's really beautiful.' [...] I said, "Okay, but there's a story that's right now being shopped."
Asked if Cohen drew any conclusions from Trump's remark, the defense objects.
Sustained.
by ti-amie
Cohen describes overhearing Trump's conversation with David Pecker.
"Instead of lifting up the phone, he used the speaker box, so I was able to hear."
Trump "asked how things were going with the matter," and Pecker said that things were under control.
Cohen recalled Pecker saying: "we'll take care of this."
Cohen says he told Trump that a "bulletproof" agreement had been finalized.
According to Cohen, Trump beamed: "Fantastic! Great job!"
Cohen says Pecker grew uneasy: "David had asked me when he should anticipate being paid back the $150,000."
"It was too much money for him to hide," Cohen recalled, noting he also paid $30,000 for Sajudin. "So he put pressure on me to speak to Mr. Trump to get the money back."
Asked whether Pecker urged him to get the money back, Cohen replied he wouldn't say Pecker "urged" so much as "insisted."
Q: Was he upset about it?
A: Very.
Q: Why did you think it was so important to tape this one conversation?
Cohen says he wanted to show Pecker that they were serious about reimbursing the money so Pecker would "remain loyal."
Cohen says he also was concerned about what stories Pecker could pull out about Trump from a "locked drawer" at AMI.
Rapt attention on the transcript from the jurors.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Asked about Trump's remark "pay with cash," Cohen says Trump thought it was "one way to avoid any sort of paper transaction — but I didn't think that was the best way to do it."
Morning recess
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
We're back.
The judge reminds Cohen he's still under oath.
"Let's get the jury, please."
The judge said earlier that he will remind jurors that the transcript isn't evidence:
It's only a guide to help them understand the evidence, which is the recording itself.
Press pool report:
"Trump walked back into the courtroom at about 11:38 a.m. and waved to cameras set up in the hallway. He did not respond to the shouted question:
Is Michael Cohen a liar?"
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Cohen's testimony resumes.
Asked why he thought it would be a "bad idea" to pay in cash, Cohen says he wanted to "make it appear to be a proper transaction."
Cohen says the last voice at the end was his own — and it was him picking up a phone call.
The recording ended there, Cohen says, because he already taped enough to convince Pecker that he'd be paid back.
Cohen is shown his AT&T call records.
The logs show an incoming call from around the time his conversation with Trump cuts off on the tape, according to evidence shown to the jury.
Analysis:
Prosecutors do not appear to be letting any detail that can be corroborated by extrinsic evidence hang on Cohen's word.
Cohen said that his conversation with Trump continued after the recording ended, essentially amounting to him telling Trump:
"I'm going to head over to Allen Weisselberg's office, and I'll get back to him with more of an update."
The prosecutor shows Cohen the metadata of the recording.
Q: Did you ever alter that recording?
A: No.
Trump's lawyer Emil Bove tried to suggest otherwise, without evidence, during cross of a custodial witness who entered it into the record.
Weisselberg's office was also located on the 26th floor, toward the back, Cohen says.
He adds that Weisselberg and Trump interacted with each other "on a regular basis."
Asked whether Weisselberg would handle a deal of this magnitude, Cohen says: "It wasn't even a deal of this magnitude. It was any deal. "
Allen handled all the finances, "going in and out," Cohen said.
Cohen says he told Weisselberg that he would open up an LLC.
"It was in order to keep in separate," Cohen says.
Latest exhibit: Signal messages between Michael Cohen and AMI's Daniel Rothstein
They are entered into evidence, and they appear to show Rothstein brainstorming LLC names.
"Please find possible names," the message states.
It's dated Sept. 7, 2016, a day after the Trump-Cohen tape.
Another message, referring to the assignment agreement, is dated right before AMI was going to acquire McDougal's life rights, Cohen says.
Cohen is shown the formation records for Resolution Consultants LLC, used for the assignment for the Karen McDougal deal.
He's then shown the assignment of license agreement, transferring the McDougal rights from AMI to Cohen's shell company.
Background:
Pecker testified that he pulled out of the assignment agreement after a conversation with his lawyer, and that Cohen warned him Trump would be upset.
Questioning turns to the "Access Hollywood" tape, as well as Hope Hicks' now-infamous reaction: "Deny, deny, deny."
Bannon forwarded the message to Cohen, who told Bannon in response: "Please call me."
Displaying phone records, the prosecutor shows Cohen on the phone with Trump twice on Oct. 8, 2016.
"The spin he wanted to put on this was that it was 'locker room talk,'" Cohen says, adding that Trump told him that's what Melania "thought it was."
Cohen recalls speaking to the press about the tape.
"The recording is quite damaging, and they wanted comment."
At least on direct, prosecutors are showcasing a starkly different Michael Cohen from his public persona: calm, slow, methodical, and even-keeled.
Cohen thought the tape could have a "catastrophic" impact that was "horrible for the campaign."
Cohen said that he spoke to Trump about Stormy Daniels in 2011, after the blog The Dirty published a story about them.
"I told him that one of the things that we need to do is take care of it," Cohen said.
"Absolutely," Trump replied, according to Cohen.
Cohen says he asked Trump directly about the alleged affair, but Trump didn't reply — except in a cryptic remark from earlier.
Trump said that he was playing golf with "big Ben Roethlisberger" and boasted that women prefer Trump even to him, according to Cohen.
Trump also described Daniels as a "beautiful woman," Cohen said.
Trump's remarks about "big Ben" and "beautiful woman" Stormy Daniels came before his non-answers to Cohen's direct question about the alleged affair.
Cohen quotes Trump saying: "This is a disaster. Total disaster. Women are going to hate me [...] Guys, they think it's cool."
Cohen says he broached the subject of Trump's wife Melania by saying: "How's things going upstairs?"
According to Cohen, Trump replied: "Don't worry. How long do you think I'll be on the market for? Not long."
Cohen testifies that the liquidated damages clause punishing Daniels for any breach of the NDA was his idea.
Cohen said that he would be the only person with the side letter agreement disclosing the true identities of "Peggy Peterson" (Daniels) and "David Dennison" (Trump).
Q: At this point, he's asking for a funding deadline of Oct. 14?
A: Correct.
Asked if he planned to meet the deadline, Cohen replies in the negative and says he planned to delay.
Lunch recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
3h
Michael Cohen is back on the stand. The afternoon session will begin shortly.
Q: Good afternoon, Mr. Cohen.
A: Good afternoon.
Cohen signed it on Oct. 13, 2016.
Asked if the reasons for opening the account were truthful, Cohen replies: "No."
He says that's because he understood they may not have opened an account to pay off an "adult film star"
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
3h
Cohen said that Trump stated to him that he had spoken to "some friends, some individuals."
They pointed out that "it's $130,000," and Trump's "a billionaire." "Just pay."
"He expressed to me, just do it. Meet up with Allen Weisselberg and just figure the whole thing out."
Cohen says he told Weisselberg: "You’re making seven figures. Why don’t you pay it?"
"[Weisselberg] said that he wasn’t in a financial position to do it," in light of prep school tuitions and summer camp for his grandchildren, according to Cohen.
Cohen said that, "because of the urgency": "I ultimately said, ‘Okay, I’ll pay it.'”
Call logs show Cohen receiving a 1:24 minute voicemail from Allen Weisselberg on Oct. 23, 2016.
Cohen and Weisselberg had another call lasting more than three minute son Oct. 25, 2016, at 11:23 p.m., according to phone records.
Q: Was there a sense of urgency at that point?
A: Significant urgency.
Cohen describes the system of obtaining the funds for the hush money from a home equity line of credit (HELOC).
Once he repaid the loan, Cohen said: "Nobody would be the wiser."
Cohen: "If this situation wasn't resolved, it would have been catastrophic to Mr. Trump and the campaign."
Cohen says Pecker refused to pull off the Stormy Daniels payoff, quoting him saying: "I cannot do it again. It could cost me my job."
Cohen inspects an exhibit of a flurry of Signal calls between Cohen and Pecker.
Explaining why so many, Cohen says: "Signal is terrible at keeping calls. It drops off all the time."
(This gets some knowing laughs from the press corps, which uses the encrypted app frequently.)
Context: Signal is a popular tool for, among other things, journalists protecting sources' anonymity.
On Oct. 26, 2016, Cohen opened the First Republic account for Essential Consultants LLC.
"I went across the street, which is where it was located, and I told them that I needed to do a transfer," Cohen says.
Asked why he submitted a false business narrative on the form, Cohen responded: "To hide the intent for the reason for opening Essential Consultants."
"I believe that they probably would not" have opened up the account had they known the true reason, Cohen said.
Cohen says Trump intentionally didn't sign the agreement with Daniels to avoid detection. Instead, Cohen signed the agreement: "EC," short for "Essential Consultants," he says.
Asked whether the disguised signatures were to keep it confidential, Cohen agrees: "It was the whole purpose of this transaction."
Next exhibit: Email from Hope Hicks to Cohen, floating ideas to spin the article.
by
ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2h
Back from the afternoon recess.
"Witness entering": Cohen returns to the stand.
Trump appears to be reading a document at the defense table as Cohen's testimony resumes.
Asked if he was offered a position as assistant general counsel, Cohen said: "Yes," but he agrees he didn't want it.
"No, ma'am," Cohen said, adding he was disappointed about not being considered for a Chief of Staff role.
"It was more about my ego than anything."
Cohen said that he pitched a role of personal attorney for the president.
"I didn’t expect to be compensated," Cohen testifies.
Instead, Cohen said, he expected compensation to come from "companies that were already speaking to me."
Cohen is shown text messages with his then-college aged daughter, which are entered into evidence. He says that she noticed he was upset.
"I explained to her that there were so many opportunities."
Asking her father whether he would have a role in government, Cohen answered no — and that it was a "hybrid," Cohen says.
In December 2016, Cohen was still at the Trump Org, and he said it was customary for him to get an end-of-year bonus.
Rhona Graff would walk around with a Christmas card from Trump, with a Trump inside, and that's how employees would learn their bonus, Cohen says.
Trump cut his bonus by two-thirds, Cohen says.
"I was truly insulted" and "personally hurt," Cohen says.
"After all that I had gone through in terms of the campaign—as well as things in the Trump Organization—in laying out $130,000 to protect him, it was insulting."
"In some colorful language," Cohen says, he expressed to him about how angry he really was.
Part of his anger, Cohen says, was at Weisselberg for allowing it.
Cohen recalled Weisselberg telling him:
"Take it easy. You know that Mr. Trump loves you, [he] is gonna do right by you. [...] Enjoy your vacation. Relax. We're gonna make this right."
"I was, even for myself, unusually angry."
Earlier, Cohen said, he had to do a "double-take" when he saw the bonus. He wasn't expecting more, but he wasn't expecting less.
Cohen says Trump called him before new year.
"Don't worry about the other thing. I'm gonna take care of it before you get back," Trump told him, according to Cohen's testimony.
Asked why Weisselberg "grossed up" the $180,000 to $360,000, Cohen said he was told he needed that in order to recover that money after taxes.
Cohen said he was also told to take it as income rather than a reimbursement.
Weisselberg isn't a CPA; he's been Trump's CFO for four decades, Cohen notes.
"He certainly knows more than I do" about taxes and accounting, Cohen says.
Asked about the ramifications for the reimbursements, Cohen says he didn't know or care about the tax implications. He simply wanted to get his money back, he says.
Cohen said he was told the reimbursement payments would start in February, because January was a busy month in light of the inauguration.
On Jan. 17, 2017, Cohen sent a text message to Gene Freidman, the operator of his yellow cab medallions in New York City.
"I leave tomorrow for D.C. And just between us, I will be personal counsel to Pres Trump."
Cohen says it clarifies his timeline for the Trump meeting.
This email is shown to Cohen, toward the end of the day's proceedings.
Two days before Trump's inauguration, Cohen received this message: "Congratulations on being President Trump's personal counsel (consigliere)!"
Just-released exhibit.
Justice Merchan gives his usual instructions to the jury, as trial adjourns for the day.
by ti-amie
Why is that important?
Team Trump claimed that the former president never even heard of Cohen's reimbursements, let alone approved them, and they were all legal fees.
The jury has heard that defense line—and seen it contradicted repeatedly, including by Trump's own words.
If Trump claims there's nothing wrong with approving Cohen's reimbursements, jurors may find themselves wondering:
Why is Trump's defense running away from them, even though he's on record in a tweet and sworn court documents giving them the green light?
After Trump "approved it," the then-President-elect remarked, "This is going to be one heck of a ride in D.C.," according to Cohen.
Indeed.
Stand by for today's trial proceedings.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
7h
The DA's paralegals enter the courtroom, with a cart of documents.
One more bit of context:
Trump's top lawyer Todd Blanche left no ambiguity when trial began, telling jurors verbatim: "The $35,000 a month was not a payback to Mr. Cohen for the money that he gave to Ms. Daniels."
Per the defense, there are no reimbursements; only legal fees.
That's the claim Trump's defense is now tied to — and what prosecutors keep battering, including through Cohen.
Bragg's assistants just entered the courtroom.
No Bragg this morning, at least not yet.
Trump enters the courtroom.
Now part of the entourage: Vivek Ramaswamy, sitting next to Eric Trump. They chat.
Also: Doug Burgum.
Vivek just lost his seatmate.
Eric Trump moves a row back.
Taking the Trump scion's former spot: Rep. Byron Donalds.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
7h
"All rise."
Justice Merchan takes the bench, and the attorneys register their appearances.
Prosecutors have an issue to raise to the judge—in private for a sidebar conference.
"Witness entering."
Michael Cohen returns to the stand.
His attorney
@EDanyaPerry
sits in the gallery.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
7h
Cohen's testimony resumes — with his visit to the White House.
Q: Did you have a conversation with then-President Trump?
A: I did.
Cohen says the conversation took place in the Oval Office.
Cohen:
"I was sitting with President Trump. He asked me if I was okay. He asked me if I needed money."
Cohen says that he replied that he was okay.
Trump: "Just make sure you deal with Allen."
Cohen is shown a picture of himself at the White House, and other evidence corroborating the visit.
Michael Cohen identifies Trump's signature on one of his checks.
Now, Hoffinger goes record by record with Cohen, prompting him to testify about the falsity of each one.
We're up to June so far.
Cohen has completed his identification of all of the records he has testified to have been false.
Cohen says he performed "minimal" work for Melania Trump—or on Summer Zervos' lawsuit against Trump.
Attorney Marc Kasowitz took the lead on the latter case.
Cohen said that he continued to hold the title of Trump's personal attorney in 2018.
"As a result of the Stormy aniels matter and her electing to go public, Mr. Trump wanted an action to be filed—an arbitration to be filed" for breach of the NDA, Cohen says.
Outside counsel Larry Rosen was also on that case in 2018.
Cohen says he did "more" work that year than in 2017 — and he didn't get paid in 2018.
(Before cross, prosecutors appear to be preemptively rebutting arguments that Cohen was paid for legal services rendered.)
Michael Cohen says he lied for Trump "out of loyalty and in order to protect him."
Cohen is being asked about his admitted perjury about Trump Tower Moscow. He told Congress that it was a "truncated" time period and that he only spoke to Trump about it a few times.
That was false.
Asked why he lied about that, Cohen says "because I was staying on Mr. Trump's message that there was no 'Russia, Russia, Russia.'"
Cohen is asked a series of questions connecting what he was federally prosecuted for doing in that congressional hearing — lie for Trump — with what Manhattan prosecutors say he did with respect to Stormy Daniels:
Lie for Trump.
Justice Merchan issues a curative instruction on the FEC investigation.
"Neither the fact of the FEC investigation, nor the responses thereto," are evidence of Trump's guilt.
Cohen says he inserted this clause because he thought the press was smart enough to notice the discrepancy of denying only the Trump campaign or Trump Org's ties to Daniels' payment.
"I do not plan to provide any further comment on the FEC matter or regarding Ms. Clifford."
Cohen says he knew reporters would ask about Trump's ties to the deal.
In the statement, he also wrote: "Just because something isn't true doesn't mean it can't cause you harm or damage. I will always protect Mr. Trump."
Cohen is shown a text message from Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow apparently praising his Stormy Daniels denial:
"Client says thanks for what you do."
Cohen testifies that the message was about his statement regarding Daniels.
When trial began, David Pecker testified that Cohen told him not to worry about the FEC probe because Trump had then-AG Jeff Sessions "in his pocket."
Cohen confirms he told him Sessions would take care of it.
Q: Prior to saying that, had you been told that by President Trump?
A: Yes, ma'am.
After the FBI's search, Michael Cohen said his life was turned "upside-down," and he was "concerned, despondent," and "frightened"
Cohen says Trump returned a phone call to reassure him.
"He said, ‘Don’t worry. I’m the President of the United States.'"
According to Cohen, Trump also told him: "There’s nothing here. Everything’s going to be okay. Stay tough. You’re going to be okay."
Cohen said he believed Trump then.
"With his Justice Department, it should go nowhere. So I stayed reassured and I remained in the camp."
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Trump et al return — with some fewer "et als."
His GOP allies have left.
We're back.
Q: Mr. Cohen, are you familiar with an attorney named Robert Costello?
A: I am.
Next exhibit: Email from Costello to Cohen, dated April 19, 2018
The email validated Costello's relationship to Giuliani and the concept of the "backchannel," Cohen said.
Next email: Costello conveys convo with Rudy to Cohen:
"He asked me to tell you that he knows how tough this is on you and your family and he will make su[r]e to tell the President. He said thank you for opening this back channel of communication and asked me to keep in touch."
On June 13, 2018, Costello told Cohen that "my friend has communicated to me that he is meeting with his client this evening and he added that if there was anything you wanted to convey you should tell me and my friend will bring it up for discussion this evening."
Cohen says he understood Costello's "friend" was Rudy Giuliani, whose "client" was then-President Trump.
For Cohen, the "covert" mode of communication had an "I-Spy-ish" feel, he says.
Email from Bob Costello, seemingly frustrated at Cohen for not retaining him:
"When I suggested that we meet and discuss a strategy following this news you suddenly took a new approach and stated: 'That's not going to happen.' Stunned by this remark, I was asking you for a clarification of our legal relationship."
Costello to Cohen 6/14/18
"It seems clear to me that you are under the impression that Trump and Giuliani are trying to discredit you and throw you under the bus to use your phrase. I think you are wrong because you are believing the narrative promoted by the left wing media."
Costello to Cohen, email (cont'd)
"You are making a very big mistake if you believe the stories these 'journalists' are writing about you. They want you to cave. They want you to fail. They do not want you to persevere and succeed."
Cohen testifies: "This is part of the pressure campaign."
Cohen says he never told Robert Costello the truth about Trump's involvement in the Stormy Daniels payoff because he didn't "trust" him — and he remained loyal to Trump at the time.
Cohen says he had conversations with his family, following the FBI's search.
At the time, Cohen says, he did not know what SDNY was even looking at — and he was in a "unique situation."
(Trump's GOP entourage reenters the courtroom during this monologue.)
Cohen delivers this line straight to the jury, in a soft and measured tone.
"I made a decision again based on a conversation with my family: I would not lie for President Trump any longer."
After two leading versions of the question prompt sustained objections, the prosecutor asks:
Q: Why in fact did you pay that money to Stormy Daniels?
A: To ensure that the story would not come out, would not affect Mr. Trump's chances of becoming President of the United States.
Cohen testifies (accurately) that, during his guilty plea on campaign finance violations, he and prosecutors said that he committed his crimes at Trump's direction and benefit.
Cohen said that his guilty plea was the "worst day of my life."
Cohen recounts his apologies to Congress and the American people at the hearing.
He says that "the citizenry had a right to know" the information withheld from the public — another line delivered directly at the jury.
Several of the jurors return Cohen's eye contact, during his narration about being fitted for an ankle bracelet.
The prosecutor gets ahead of a defense line of attack.
During his civil trial, Michael Cohen claimed that he lied by falsely pleading guilty to tax crimes associated with his tax medallions. Cohen says that he "did not dispute there was an error" in his taxes.
Cohen previously claimed that federal prosecutors unjustly pressured him to plead guilty to that, by threatening to prosecute his wife.
Today, Cohen testifies that his critique was that it was overkill by prosecutors.
Cohen says he was a "first time offender," who "consistently paid taxes on its due date," who had "never been audited."
He expressed surprise "that this would go immediately to a criminal charge."
Expect more on this during cross-examination.
Prosecutor Hoffinger asks Cohen about his civil fraud trial testimony on the topic.
Q: Did you admit under question that yes, it was a lie when you agreed to plead guilty to those counts?
A: Yes.
Cohen testifies that he "never disputed" the "underlying fact."
"I was given 48 hours to accept their plea," or a superseding indictment would name his wife, Cohen says.
"And I was going to protect my wife," he tells the jury.
Certain jurors appear to take some notes during this exchange.
Michael Cohen, on his podcast.
"I named it 'Mea Culpa' for two reasons. First it was my responsibility, which I take. Second, it was because they're my initials."
(Full disclosure: I'm somewhat embarrassed to say I never made the second connection.)
Cohen is asked about his books.
Analysis: Prosecutors have turned to the part of direct examination commonly abbreviated as "BOBS" — "Bring Out the Bad Stuff."
They defang attacks on a witness's credibility—antagonism vs the defendant, financial motives, and rap sheets—by bringing it out themselves.
Michael Cohen's closing lines:
"I regret doing things for [Trump] that I should not have. Lying. Bullying people in order to effectuate a goal. I don't regret working with the Trump Organization." (cont'd)
Cohen's closing lines (cont'd)
"As I expressed before, I had some very interesting, great times. But to keep a loyalty and to do the things that he asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family."
Prosecutor: "No further questions."
Cross will begin after the lunch recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
3h
We're back.
"Witness entering."
Michael Cohen returns to the witness stand.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche begins cross-ex.
"May I inquire?" Blanche asks.
He can — and after having Cohen confirm that they never met, Blanche's first question is a doozy.
Blanche asks Cohen whether he recently described him as "crying little (expletive)" on TikTok.
Cohen starts to say: "It sounds like something I would say," before prosecutors object.
Judge: "Sustained."
Blanche asks whether Cohen said on TikTok, on April 23, that it sounded like David Pecker has corroborated what he's been saying for years.
Cohen agrees.
Asked whether he's been following the trial on CNN and MSNBC, Cohen responds he's watched the networks, but not specifically for this trial.
Q: Is this trial important to you, Mr. Cohen?
A: Personally, yes.
Blanche asks whether Cohen referred to Trump as a "dictator douchebag."
"It sounds like something I said," Cohen says.
Cohen agrees with Blanche that he also said Trump belongs in a "f***ing cage" like an "animal."
Analysis:
The start of Cohen's cross highlights the pitfalls of a witness mouthing off on social media and broadcast, days before taking the stand. Cohen agrees the DA's office urged him repeatedly to stop talking about the case.
Asked whether Cohen made a promise to his attorneys to stop talking and stop going on TV, prosecutors make an objection.
Sustained.
Blanche tries a couple other methods of making this point, prompting more objections.
Sustained, by Justice Merchan.
Q: You continue to talk to the press to this day?
A: About many topics.
Asked whether that includes this case, Cohen agrees that's correct.
Blanche keeps rattling off Cohen's media appearances, which allegedly frustrated the DA's office.
Cohen coolly says he does not recall their frustration about an appearance with Don Lemon.
During all of this, Trump's eyes appear to be closed and his head appears to be tilted up.
Cohen says he doesn't recall leaking whether he leaked the fact that he gave his phones to the DA.
With heavy sarcasm, Blanche asks whether Cohen has detailed telephone recollections of years-old conversations with Trump—but can't recall his promise to the DA's office from last year.
Q: You don't recall the [DA's office] telling you that you were unwittingly helping President Trump by going on TV?
A: (quietly) No, sir.
Blanche says Cohen has been "warned repeatedly" by the DA's office not to talk about the case.
"Yes," Cohen responds.
Cohen says they told him: "Please don't talk about the case."
Blanche skeptically asks about the manner of the instruction.
Cohen says: "Actually, they contacted my attorney."
He later quotes them saying: "It's probably better off that you don't speak about it."
Blanche incredulously repeats Cohen's quotation.
Cohen: "Well, I do have a First Amendment right. I can speak."
Blanche says he's not asking about Cohen's First Amendment rights. He's asking about the prosecutors' instructions.
Blanche turns to Cohen's podcast, "Mea Culpa."
Q: Of those more than 200 episodes, would you agree that you have talked about President Trump in every single one?
A: I would say he's mentioned in every one, yes.
Michael Cohen says he does his TikToks "to build an audience, to create a community," and "to vent."
Cohen: "It does make money, but it's not significant."
Q: You've also talked extensively on Mea Culpa your desire that President Trump be convicted in this case?
Cohen first says it "sounds like something he would say" — then, when pressed by Blanche, answers "probably."
"Do you have any doubt?" Blanche asks.
Cohen responded that he doesn't know whether he said it those words, but he expressed the sentiment that he wanted to "see accountability."
Blanche turns to Cohen's merchandising.
There's an image of Trump in an orange jumpsuit, a "Convict 45" T-shirt, and a mug with the slogan "SEND HIM TO THE BIG HOUSE NOT THE WHITE HOUSE."
Cohen agrees he wore the Trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit merch last week.
Q: A lot of your family members also bought properties in Trump buildings?
A: Yes, sir.
In the early 2000s, Cohen says: "We bought as a block."
Cohen agrees that he worked for Trump during his time at the Trump Organization — and that he also worked for his family on occasion, including Melania and Don Jr.
He doesn't believe he ever worked for Eric Trump, the only family member other than the defendant in the room.
Q: Fair to say you admired President Trump while you were working for him.
A: Yes, sir.
Cohen agrees that he read "Art of the Deal" twice, and asked whether it was a "masterpiece," he says he thought it was an "excellent" book.
Asked whether he was "obsessed" with Trump, Cohen says he wouldn't characterize it that way.
Cohen says he admired Trump, but he agrees he used the word "obsessed" in his book "Disloyal."
Blanche rattles off Cohen's erstwhile praise of Trump in the 2015 era.
Cohen:
"At the time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump."
Cohen agrees that he wasn't lying about Trump at the time.
"That's how I felt," Cohen responds, twice, in response to different questions.
"I was expressing my feelings."
Blanche asks Cohen about a Vanity Fair profile that was done in September 2017.
"Written by Emily Jane Fox," Cohen recalls, agreeing that he said that he would take a bullet for Trump.
Cohen agrees that he said at the time that there was no money in the world that would get him to write a book about Trump.
Turning to Cohen's congressional testimony on October 2017, Blanche asks whether Cohen was lying by saying he was happy to serve Trump.
Cohen says that part was true.
Blanche reviews Cohen's meeting with Mueller's investigative team.
Cohen agrees that he told them that his life had been turned upside down since the release of the Steele Dossier—and that he's never been to Prague.
Asked whether he lied about the Trump Moscow project, Cohen responded: "Yes, the information that I gave was not accurate."
Q: Is it a lie?
A: It is inaccurate, yes.
Q: Is it a lie?
A: I don't know if I would characterize it as a lie. It was inaccurate.
Questioning continued in that vein, and now Blanche turns to Cohen's stint in Otisville.
Afternoon recess.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
We're back.
Justice Merchan informs jurors that court will break early on Thursday, at 4 p.m., to accommodate a juror's commitment.
Cross-ex resumes.
Cohen agrees that he asked prosecutors what the benefit would be for meeting with them, when they first visited him in Otisville.
Asked if Cohen asked prosecutors about their timeline, Cohen replies, "I don't recall saying that; no, sir."
Q: Is it fair to say, the [DA] didn't commit to anything? [...]
A: That's correct.
Cohen agrees that the basis for his bid for a reduced sentence was for his cooperation, including with the Mueller investigation and Manhattan DA's office.
Asked about whether he also cited cooperation with SDNY, Cohen expresses confusion.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
Context:
SDNY characterized Cohen's description of his assistance to their investigation as "overstated" and "incomplete," as opposed to Mueller's office, which found him cooperative.
Blanche instructs Cohen to don headphones to listen to an episode of his Mea Culpa podcast.
It's not in evidence, and so we can't hear it.
It's to refresh his memory.
Sidebar conference.
Blanche asks whether Cohen said in the same podcast that Trump needs to wear handcuffs and do the perp walk.
"I wouldn't put it past me," Cohen answers.
Q: Is it fair to say you're motivated by fame?
A: No, I don't think that's fair to say.
Q: Is it fair to say you're motivated by publicity?
A: I don't think that's fair to say.
Cohen says he's motivated by "many things."
Q: You thanked the new DA team for continuing their investigation?
A: Sounds correct.
Asked whether he expressed a "strong desire" to hold Trump accountable, Cohen again says it: "Sounds correct."
Q: You wanted the District Attorney's office to publicly acknowledge that you were cooperating, correct?
A: I would say so, yes.
Asked if he has any doubt, Cohen says no.
Q: How much money have you made from 'Revenge'?
A: (pause) I don't know exactly, but I will say about $400,000.
"Disloyal" made $2 million, Cohen said earlier.
Todd Blanche borrows a line from the prior testimony of Hope Hicks.
Q: When you think of yourself as a 'fixer,' are you fixing things that you broke?
A: No, sir.
First day of Michael Cohen's cross concludes.
He's back on Thursday.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
After the jury leaves, the parties approach for a sidebar conference.
by ti-amie Switching to another person's feed for what happened after Adam stopped posting.
Before he vacates the bench, Justice Merchan asks counsel to approach.
Trump remains seated at the defense table, grinning to himself briefly, during sidebar.
Merchan wants to put it on the record: he was asking Blanche whether he thought he'd be finished with the witness by Thurs afternoon.
Yes, if I finish, it'll be at the end of the day, Blanche says, and Merchan says no rush.
Next matter: the defense's expert witness, Blanche asks for an opportunity to discuss the testimony and what is admissible.
Does that sound like something we can do Thursday at 4, Merchan begins to ask—but the video feed stalls, buffers.
We'll have to leave it there, on a cliffhanger!
by ti-amie Lisa Rubin
@lawofruby
NEW: We’re done for the day at the Trump trial, and the cross has not accomplished much beyond:
— showing Cohen remains wealthy (albeit significantly less so than his ex-boss claims to be) and has made millions off his Trump-related books;
— dramatically turned on his former idol Trump after his 2018 sentencing;
— hoped his cooperation with various prosecutors would result in a sentence reduction; and
— has frequently insulted Trump with a variety of sophisticated-for-the-schoolyard kind of epithets.
by ti-amie I am certainly not a lawyer and there may be more "meat" to the defense Thursday and Friday but so far they haven't given one piece of evidence to counter the prosecution's case. I do think that TFG is directing the defense and that he wants the court to hear the praise Cohen gave him before things fell apart, as if this will make him the aggrieved party in this situation, a brilliant person being brought down by a man jealous of his fame and angry about being stiffed when it came to his bonus.
by Owendonovan I find it amusing how TFG's defense team is basically calling Cohen out for just about every behavior their client exhibits almost daily.
by ashkor87 Trouble is- after all this, it will be appealed on a technicality (jurisdiction) and nothing will happen to Trump ...his supporters are not going to care unless he is actually jailed, and that won't happen any time soon ..'a tale told by an idiot. Full of sound and fury signifying nothing'..
by ti-amie Some scenes from outside of 100 Centre Street this morning:
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Good morning from New York.
The first day of Michael Cohen's cross-ex began with a reminder that he called Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche a "crying little s***."
Outside the jury's ear, the judge then scolded Blanche for "making this about yourself."
Day Two ahead
The Day One transcript reveals the sidebar discussion from after that explosive start.
Blanche pushed back: "I'm not making it about myself, your honor. I have a right to show this witness's bias, and he has expressed bias about the lawyers just because of who we represent."
Later, the judge responded: "It doesn't matter if he has bias towards you; it doesn't matter. The issue is whether he has bias towards the defendant."
Some takeaways from Day One of cross:
If jurors didn't know Michael Cohen's public persona before Tuesday, they do now.
* Cohen agreed that 200+ episodes of his podcast mention Trump.
* They heard the profane taunts.
* They saw him in merch of Trump in an orange jumpsuit.
Some apparently new info also came out:
The first time Manhattan prosecutors visited him in Otisville prison, Cohen asked how meeting with them could benefit him.
This was after he told a federal judge and Congress he turned over a new, civic-minded leaf.
Cohen acknowledged: "I did ask that," referring to the advantages of his cooperation.
In another string of questions, Trump's lawyer also asked Cohen about prosecutors repeatedly urging him not to make statements about the case — warning that he could "unwittingly" benefit Trump.
And Cohen continuing to taunt Trump in public anyway.
So far, the cross has not gone to the evidence at the heart of the case, extensively corroborating Cohen's account and shown to the jury during his direct examination.
We'll see whether Blanche turns to that evidence in Day Two.
Now:
Trump enters the courtroom.
In court today: Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert and others.
Gaetz is seated between Eric Trump and Boebert in the front left row of the gallery — directly behind the defendant.
After Justice Merchan enters the courtroom, the attorneys have a lengthy sidebar conference at his bench.
This is one long sidebar. We'll see if the transcript will be interesting.
"All rise."
The jury enters, with Michael Cohen back on the stand.
Justice Merchan informs the jury that they may have to work next Wednesday, with the Memorial Day weekend coming up as trial winds toward a close.
Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche resumes his cross with questions about Cohen's communications with Detective Jeremy Rosenberg from the DA's office.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche resumes his cross with questions about Cohen's communications with Detective Jeremy Rosenberg from the DA's office.
Blanche wants to refresh Cohen's memory with communications that aren't in evidence — and slips.
He asks the court to put the materials available on the screen for the "defendant," before correcting himself and saying "the witness," i.e. Cohen.
Blanche wants to admit Cohen's texts with Rosenberg into evidence, and then Hoffinger springs up to ask Cohen whether the communications are largely redacted and therefore out of context.
They are, Cohen says.
Prosecutor: "We object."
Judge: "Please approach." (Sidebar)
After the sidebar, Justice Merchan sustains the objection.
The communications won't come in, but Blanche continues to ask about them. Another misstep.
Objection.
Sustained.
Q: Do you recall prior to the indictment being unsealed, the public learned that President Trump had been indicted?
A: Yes, sir.
Asked whether the detective confirmed to him that it "was done," Cohen says he doesn't understand the question.
Blanche asks: "Detective Rosenberg didn't tell you that they told the New York Times before they told you."
Objection.
Sustained.
Judge: "When you say 'they,' who are you referring to?"
Blanche wants to suggest that the DA's office gave the NYT the tip-off, but Cohen resists that.
The exchange seems to suggest the detective just gave a heads up of what the Times reported.
Asked whether Cohen said the DA's office "Goliath on his back," Cohen says that sounds correct.
Once again, Cohen agrees that he went on TV after the DA's office urged him not to do so.
Blanche plays audio of Cohen's enthusiastic reaction to the indictment on his podcast for the jury.
Blanche shows Cohen the Truth Social post by Trump calling Daniels a "Horseface" and Cohen a "convicted liar."
Asked if he responded to the post, Cohen says: "I don't have a Truth Social post, sir."
Blanche says he responded on "X," calling Trump "Dumbass Donald."
"Sounds correct," Cohen responds.
Blanche turns to Cohen's frequent testimony.
Q: Was the oath that you took every single time [...] the same oath that you took Monday morning?"
"Yes, sir," Cohen says.
Cohen agrees with Blanche that the oath doesn't change.
Blanche goes through Cohen's lies about the since-abandoned Trump Tower Moscow project. Cohen freely acknowledges it.
Unsaid by Blanche, these were undoubtedly lies to protect Trump.
It'll also undoubtedly come up on redirect.
That fact comes up now:
Q: Even at the time that you pled guilty [...] you said that you made those statements [...] out of loyalty to President Trump, correct?
A: Correct.
Not all of Cohen's charges were Trump-related, though, Blanche says.
The lawyer reviews the FBI's search of Cohen's home.
Cohen says he learned his then-business associate Gene Freidman was cooperating months after the search.
Blanche leads Cohen through his 2018 guilty plea — along with his swearing in. It's clear where this is going.
During Trump's civil fraud trial, Cohen said he lied then about being guilty of the tax evasion for the taxi medallions.
Cohen clarified his answer on direct examination and once again now, on cross. He says that federal prosecutors gave him 48 hours to accept or face a new indictment charging his wife.
Cohen:
"I never denied the underlying facts [of the tax offenses]. I just did not believe that I should have been charged by either of those two, or I should say six, offenses."
Cohen's answers here are much smoother than during Trump's civil fraud trial, when he was questioned by Alina Habba.
Cohen has been delivering crisp, clear, responsive answers, with a level volume and steady voice.
At least so far, he's not sounding defensive or going off on tangents.
Cohen:
"I believed that I should not have been charged — yes, sir."
But Trump's lawyer noted Cohen didn't say that in his book.
In his book, Cohen agrees, he said the charges were "100 percent inaccurate."
Cohen also agrees he said in a TikTok that the SDNY's federal investigation was the "most corrupt" in at least 100 years.
Blanche pushes this line of questioning until prosecutor Hoffinger objects. Sidebar.
After the sidebar, Blanche moves on to another topic: Cohen's interview on CNN.
Cohen agrees that he said at the time that "the lies of the prosecutors from the Southern District of New York would eventually be exposed."
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Analysis:
Since the civil fraud trial, Cohen distancing himself from the tax offenses were always going to be a pressure point on cross. Blanche keeps pushing it, and there's no new ground broken here.
But it may be new for the jury.
Cohen agrees he also harshly criticized the late-federal judge who sentenced him.
Q: You do believe Judge Pauley was in on it?
A: I do.
Cohen agrees he called Pauley and SDNY prosecutors "(expletive) animals."
Cohen repeats his view that the tax offenses should have been treated civilly, through a letter alerting him, before criminally charging him.
Cohen:
"I should not have been charged with a tax crime."
He agrees that he shouldn't have been charged with a HELOC (home equity line of credit) violation, for how he obtained the money to funnel to Stormy Daniels.
For the first time of cross, Cohen is reminded to answer only the questions posed to him rather than giving speeches.
That happened frequently during Trump's civil trial last year.
Cohen has been much more disciplined now, so far.
Cohen doesn't backpedal from his testimony that he lied to Pauley about believing he was guilty of the tax offenses.
Q: The reason you lied to a federal judge is that the stakes affected you personally?
A: Yes.
Cohen acknowledged his "mistakes" about his taxes to Congress, but Blanche notes that he didn't disclose his strident criticism about being charged with those offenses at the time.
"I don't believe I was asked the question," Cohen responds.
Q: Do you agree with me that lying under oath is not accepting responsibility?
A: Could you clarify your question?
Cohen:
"I accepted responsibility, and I was suffering the consequences as a result."
Cohen agrees criminal defendants get credit at sentencing for accepting responsibility.
Blanche says Cohen got that credit even though Cohen "lied."
Cohen says that judge's have a wide range of discretion over guidelines.
Cohen agrees that, at different times, he has blamed the bank, the prosecutors, the judge, and Trump for his downfall.
Q: Does the outcome of this trial affect you personally?
A: Yes.
Cohen agrees that there's nothing wrong in the taxi medallion business with having 16 LLCs. That's standard for that industry.
(Unclear what the purpose of that question is, unless Blanche is trying to blunt the sting of the shell companies in the Daniels/McDougal payoffs.)
Q: Do you know whether your wife ever found out what you did with the $130,000 and the HELOC [home equity line of credit]?
Objection.
Sustained.
Cohen said that his wife had no knowledge about the $130,000 HELOC transaction, apparently referring to the Stormy Daniels payoff.
Asked whether he was aware of deleting messages with his wife in the March 2018 time frame, Cohen says he wasn't aware.
Blanche presses the line of questioning with people other than his wife until Cohen notes Signal has an automatically disappearing messages feature.
In 2019, Cohen told Congress: "I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump." But Blanche noted that Cohen asked two lawyers about the possibility of a pardon.
Now, Cohen doesn't deny it:
"I wanted this nightmare to end."
Cohen notes that they corrected the "misstatement."
Asked whether that was because it wasn't true when he made it, Cohen agrees.
Morning recess.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
4h
We're back:
Assistant DA Matthew Colangelo says that Blanche's cross left a "misleading impression" that the indictment was leaked, and he notes the fact of the indictment was unsealed before the indictment itself.
The prosecution wants a curative instruction.
Blanche opposes, citing the exchange between Cohen and the detective.
The judge gives Blanche an opportunity to "clean up" this line of questioning.
Justice Merchan says jurors informed the court that they cannot work next Wednesday.
"So, that's off the table," the judge says.
If the defense doesn't bring a case — which is a possibility — closing arguments and deliberations could conceivably begin next week, right before the Memorial Day weekend.
That could create complications, and that's why the court considered the Wednesday option.
We'll see how the matter resolves, which will depend in large part on whether defense and rebuttal cases are going to happen.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
4h
Cohen's cross resumes.
Blanche asks whether it's fair to say that one of the reasons that Cohen accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty was that he wanted to consider cooperation.
Q: "Ultimately, that effort did not result in a cooperation agreement," isn't that correct?
A: "That's correct."
Q: The truth of the matter was, Mr. Cohen, you really wanted to work in the White House?
A: No, sir.
Cohen previously testified that he knew he wasn't qualified for a White House chief of staff position, but he wanted to be considered for it because of his "ego."
Blanche suggests this wasn't true. Cohen insists that it was.
Blanche notes that Cohen talked about the chief of staff position with other people.
Cohen's daughter alerted him that Reince Priebus was vying for the position, and he agrees he said that Preibus was "pushing like a madman."
Priebus ultimately got the position.
Blanche pushes this line of questioning for awhile, trying to poke holes in Cohen's line that he didn't really want the chief of staff position.
Cohen testifies that he told his daughter that there's "no shame" in being personal attorney to the President, his eventual title.
Blanche notes that Cohen had Pastor Scott, the head of Trump's diversity coalition, "put in a good word" to the then-president elect.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
4h
Analysis:
The defense is depicting Cohen's turn against Trump as sour grapes and payback to being spurned. Cohen keeps pushing back about this alleged motivation.
Cohen frequently delivers his testimony straight to the jurors — and they continue to hold eye contact with him, even throughout a contentious cross-ex.
Blanche asks a string of questions about Cohen receiving harassing phone calls, including from a 14-year-old.
Cohen complained to Trump's bodyguard Keith Schiller about it, Blanche says.
Blanche is getting worked up, launching into an indignant speech with no apparent question:
"We aren't asking about your belief. [...] This jury..."—
Prosecutor: Objection.
Judge: Sustained
Blanche continues his angry statements, not questions, about the harassing phone call from the 14-year-old.
Prosecutor: "Objection."
Judge: "Sustained."
On that note — Lunch recess.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2h
Back from lunch.
Before the afternoon session begins, a quick note on how the morning ended:
Blanche confronted Cohen on a phone call with Trump through his bodyguard with Keith Schiller on Oct. 24, 2016. During direct, Cohen testified they discussed Stormy Daniels.
During cross, Blanche introduced an alternative theory of the call:
Cohen was worked up from receiving a harassing phone call from a 14-year-old, who didn't mask his number, and he called Schiller about it.
In a tense exchange, Cohen said both topics came up.
The defense is trying to sow doubt about Cohen's uncorroborated account of this particular call, hoping that it was raise questions about other, more damaging calls.
Like a pair of calls between Cohen and Trump two days later.
On Oct. 26, 2016, Cohen opened up his First Republic Bank account for the shell company that funneled money to Stormy Daniels' lawyer, shortly after phone logs showed two calls with Trump.
An alternative theory for these calls hasn't yet been established during cross-ex.
Will one be during cross-examination?
We may find out soon, either way.
One thing's for certain:
Blanche thought the point was so important that he waited just before the lunch recess to make it, angrily, with indignant accusations and statements — that a seasoned lawyer like him must have known would draw the sustained objections that they did.
Blanche likely did so as punctuation drawing jurors' attention to the point he wanted to make.
Now, the afternoon session begins.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2h
Blanche starts the afternoon session by showing more about Cohen's text exchange with Trump's bodyguard Keith Schiller.
These messages do not appear to have been previously submitted into evidence.
They aren't part of this batch.
https://pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTru ... .2016).pdf
Cohen agrees that he worked very hard to get good press for Trump.
Q: You also worked very hard to make sure there were positive stories about you, at times?
A: Yes, sir.
Cohen agrees that he had a "Rolodex" full of reporters' contact information.
"It was my routine to always advise Mr. Trump" because if he disagreed with the framing of the story that he wanted to put out, it would probably cost Cohen his job, Cohen says.
Asked whether Cohen sometimes spoke to the press without consulting with Trump, Cohen replies:
"No, sir. I would always get a comment, or something in line with a conversation we had in line with that specific topic."
Blanche notes that Trump's campaign sometimes got frustrated at Cohen for going off-message, but Cohen says that's because he was relaying Trump's messaging, not the campaign's.
Cohen says he had a strong professional relationship with Chris Cuomo, Katy Tur and Maggie Haberman.
Q: There were many times when you gave Ms. Haberman a scoop?
A: Yes, sir.
One of Cohen's pitches to Haberman involved an (as-yet-unidentified) recorded phone call.
Q: Did you tell people you were recording them?
A: No, sir.
Cohen notes that recording calls isn't illegal in New York, a one-party consent state.
"Mr. Cohen, I did not ask you if you were breaking the law," Blanche says.
Cohen agrees that there were 95 secret recordings found on his cell phone.
Blanche asks who else Cohen "surreptitiously" recorded.
They included Jeff Zucker, Trump, and reporters, Cohen says.
Q: You understand that it's not ethical for a lawyer to record a conversation with a client?
A: That's correct.
Asked whether he ever spoke of the National Enquirer's power to deliver its message through its placement in supermarkets, Cohen responds: not that I recall.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
2h
Scene from the hallway before the afternoon session, via the trial press pool:
"Trump returned to the courtroom at 2:08. He did not respond to shouted questions about whether he would testify but gave a fist pump."
Blanche turns to the McDougal story and suggests Trump didn't share Cohen's view that her accusations would hurt him.
Cohen pushes back on that assertion.
Blanche gets Cohen to agree that he's received 50,000 to 60,000 phone calls between 2016 and today — and sarcastically asks him about remembering the damaging details of some of them.
Cohen: "Because these phone calls are things that I've been talking about" for many years.
Blanche turns to Cohen's recorded conversation where Trump said: "pay with cash," and Blanche suggests this doesn't refer to "green" — rather, it means not financing, he says.
Cohen disagrees, suggesting cash means cash.
Afternoon recess.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
After Blanche asks whether Cohen ever expressed the view that Keith Davidson was extorting Trump, the prosecutors object.
Judge: Overruled.
Cohen agrees he once opined "that they were extorting Mr. Trump."
Blanche rattles off Michael Cohen's work for Trump, his company and his family members.
Q: And you never had a retainer agreement with any of those individuals?
A: No, sir.
Blanche says the "whole truthful testimony" is "the whole time you worked for the Trump Organization, you never had a retainer agreement."
Cohen agrees that he never did.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
Analysis:
Where's Blanche going with this? The answer is, the defense maintains that the $420,000 paid to Cohen in installments of $35K/month was his legal fees, not reimbursements for Daniels, the RedFinch expense, grossing up and the bonus.
Blanche shows Cohen the statement through his law firm that neither the "Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign" was a party to the Stormy Daniels payoff.
In direct, Cohen said that this was cleverly worded to avoid the actual other party: Trump.
On cross, Cohen agrees that the actual statement itself is true, however.
Blanche shows Cohen the statement he sent to reporters denouncing the FEC complaint about the Stormy Daniels matter.
"Just because something isn't true doesn't mean that it can't cause you harm or damage. I will always protect Mr. Trump."
Cohen agrees that he recorded himself telling a reporter that they had to believe his denial of the FEC complaint's allegations because he's a "very bad liar."
But he now says he was lying to them at the time.
And so, Michael Cohen's testimony stretches to another week as trial proceedings end in the middle of his cross.
Justice Merchan instructs the jury.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
1h
After the jury leaves, Trump's attorney Emil Bove previews potential testimony by campaign finance law expert Bradley A. Smith.
Justice Merchan established some of the boundaries of his testimony before trial began.
https://justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl ... 8-2024.pdf
For the past 10 minutes, the prosecution and defense has been litigating how much latitude the defense gets for Smith's proposed testimony.
Justice Merchan says he will "read and study" both sets of submission, but until then, the judge says, his earlier ruling has not changed—and the defense witness's testimony is "greatly limited."
Review the earlier ruling here.
https://justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl ... 8-2024.pdf
With the Memorial Day coming, Merchan says he's going to try to avoid a big lapse of time between summations and the jury charge.
Blanche estimates that he will be finished with cross on Monday, before the morning break.
Redirect will take under an hour, Hoffinger says.
Blanche says he anticipates making a decision on rebuttal witnesses today.
Merchan notes that means it's possible that the evidentiary phase of the trial might close on Monday, and he urges the lawyers to be prepared for the possibility of summations on Tuesday.
The variables, of course, include: Does the defense call Trump, or for that matter, anyone else?
Trial ends for the day.
by ti-amie A more detailed look from Katie Phang.
Katie Phang
@KatiePhang
Now that the jury has been excused for the day, Judge Merchan and the lawyers are addressing the scope of the testimony of the defense's expert witness:
Bradley Smith is a former commissioner of the FEC who intends to testify about FECA (Federal Election Campaign Act), specifically regarding campaign contributions.
The prosecution arguing:
COLANGELO: I think 95 percent of the proffered testimony [from the expert] that was just described flies directly in the face of your extremely clear order…which expressly says Mr. Smith may not testify about the application or interpretation of federal campaign finance laws.
COLANGELO: I think [Mr. Bove] just walked your Honor through a very long list of federal case law and SCOTUS and DC Circuit case law, interpreting these terms. That kind of testimony from an expert is why there is a prohibition on testimony from witnesses on legal matters.
Merchan now speaking to the lawyers:
MERCHAN: I will take some time this weekend to study both sets of submissions and read the minutes from what just happened here and it will be limited to general definitions and general background…
MERCHAN: "But, until you hear differently from me, MY RULING HAS NOT CHANGED.”
Merchan's prior ruling in part:
the defense's expert cannot testify whether this conduct constitutes a violation of the campaign finance act, he can testify to the FEC function and what FEC does on enforcing and general information and terms that relate to this case….
LET’S TALK SCHEDULING, MERCHAN SAYS
MERCHAN: “I am doing everything possible to avoid breaks between summations and deliberations…..the deliberations should follow the jury charge...if we could start early, maybe 8am on some days and as of now one of the alternates can only work until 1pm Thursday..."
MERCHAN: How much more do you have?
BLANCHE: “Not a lot”...“I will be finished with cross monday, before the morning break”
BLANCHE: I was not speaking to President Trump, obviously, but that’s another decision we need to” make...
There’s a possibility we’d be done with the presentation of witnesses on Monday.
MERCHAN: Please be prepared to begin summations [Closing arguments] on TUESDAY.
MERCHAN: I will make every effort to get both summations done in one day. If that means working early, working late…. If push comes to shove, I will have to break them up, but thats something I will try not to do.
Goodbye from Judge Merchan. See you on Monday morning.
Many reporters are also paying for immediate transcripts to factcheck ASAP & bring you the news.
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said in this room, it should happen in this room, not out there, Conroy says.
It was amazing working with Trump, she says, smiling. I think—I—I hadn't spent any time with him, I don't know if anyone should feel like they deserve they should be in the West Wing, but Trump always made me feel like I belonged, especially in a place with a lot of older men.