#Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection w/a #HushMoney payment made to a porn star to influence the 2016 election. The case could be in the jury’s hands as early as Wed.
#Trump will be joined by several members of his family in court today: Donald Trump Jr; Eric & wife Lara Trump who is also co-chair of the #RNC; & Tiffany Trump & husband, Michael Boulos.
Non-family members joining Trump are Steve Witkoff, a real-estate investor & “friend”; Will Scharf, a #Republican candidate for Missouri AG & a Trump lawyer in another case; & Deroy Murdock, a #conservative#political “commentator”.
#Trump spent Monday both posting on social media about this case & attacking #EJeanCarroll.
Trump also falsely claimed the prosecutors in this case were somehow getting an undue edge by getting to deliver their closing arguments after the defense; that is actually the #law in NY.
Trump & entourage are in the courtroom. Alvin Bragg has joined as well.
After 5 wks of testimony, prosecutors & defense attys now present #ClosingArguments aka summations. Closing arguments give each side several hrs to highlight the #evidence that best proves its case. While similar to the opening statements delivered at a trial’s start, closing arguments tend to be more forceful.
When both sides are finished, Judge Juan #Merchan, will instruct the jurors on the #law & how to apply it to the evidence, & they will be sent off to deliberate.
@Nonilex And finally it's appropriate to use the term "arguments".
It really grates on me to hear legal pundits on TV, who are supposed to know better, refer to "opening arguments" instead of "opening statements." The difference is more than terminology.
Todd #Blanche, #Trump defense lawyer, says his closing argument will take ~2½ hours, & Joshua #Steinglass, the prosecutor, responds that his will be between 4-4 ½ hours. The judge says that means we may or may not finish at 4:30, & that he will ask the jurors if they can stay late in order to finish closing arguments if necessary.
Before he summons the #jury, the judge warns to the lawyers, asking them not to comment on the #law in their closings. That is his job, he reminds them, telling them to focus on the facts.
The jury is in. They have had almost a week off, but now, the focus of the #TrumpTrial is shifting to them. The judge explains how closing arguments work, that they'll hear from the defense first & then the prosecution. “The lawyers may not speak to you after that,” the judge says.
Justice #Merchan cautions the jurors that the lawyers are simply making “arguments for your consideration.” He underscores that their words are not #evidence.
Already, the judge, both in & out of the presence of the jury, is dictating clear lanes. 1st he told the lawyers, then the jurors,that his instructions on the law were the only remarks on the #law that mattered. Merchan will listen to the closing arguments, & may be compelled to weigh in as each side objects to the other’s argument. #Trump
#Blanche, #Trump’s atty begins by thanking jurors then reminds them of that in the court system, they decide the facts “not the prosecution… not the judge.”
Blanche says that his client is innocent, that the prosecution hasn’t met its burden of proof & that the evidence presented “should leave you wanting more.”
He says the case “is about documents. It’s a paper case.” It is not, he says, about an encounter w/ #StormyDaniels, noting that the defendant has denied it occurred.
@Nonilex
"noting that the defendant has denied it occurred."
Reminding them right off the bat that trump is a f'ing liar who would not say that under oath
Blanche says he is going to talk a lot about #MichaelCohen today. “You cannot convict President#Trump on any #crime beyond a reasonable doubt on the words of Michael Cohen,” Blanche says, adding that Cohen took the stand during the trial & told “lies” while there.
@Nonilex so they are really going for "Stormy and Michael made the whole thing up and Cohen is a crook which is why he was on or payroll only he wasnt but he was" got it
#Blanche is focusing on the 34 docs that led to the 34 #felony charges. He sounded as if he was getting close to making a #legal argument about “intent to defraud.” The #jurors would have to find that #Trump acted w/ #intent to #defraud when he directed the falsification of the docs in order to find him #guilty.
Justice #Merchan appeared to glare at Blanche as he came close to commenting on the #law. But the defense lawyer moved away & the judge said nothing.
#Blanche talks about the first batch of docs: 11 invoices that were sent by #MichaelCohen. The invoices said that Cohen required payment for #legal services, but Cohen testified at trial that he was directed to say that by the #TrumpOrganization. Prosecutors say #Trump himself initiated the false documents.
#Blanche emphasizes the image of #Trump in the WH, conjuring up his long days in the Oval as the “leader of the free world.” 🥱It seems to be an effort to flatter Trump & put distance between him & the docs, while also reminding the jury that the defendant was —unlike every other #criminal defendant ever—an American president.
As busy as he may have been, jurors have heard from numerous witnesses that #Trump is a lifelong micromanager. For instance, he frequently sought to reduce the size of bills he owed. For decades he insisted on signing pretty much every check leaving the Trump Organization.
Todd #Blanche argues that the documents weren’t false because #MichaelCohen really was doing #legal work for #Trump in 2017. He’s casting aspersions on the government’s theory of Cohen being repaid for his payment to #StormyDaniels, saying that if that were so, Cohen would have been doing unremunerated legal work.
Blanche’s voice rises as he again insists Cohen lied in his description of the work he was doing for Trump.
#Blanche said during the trial that #MichaelCohen had an “oral” retainer agreement with #Trump, meaning that he had agreed to do legal work on Trump’s behalf. So in his closing, just now, when he said there was a retainer agreement, he may have been out on a limb. We’ll see if & how the prosecutors respond in their own closing.
#Blanche manipulates the phrase “retainer agreement.” He has insisted loudly that #MichaelCohen testified there was no retainer, multiple times. Then he gestures toward an email from #AllenWeisselberg, #TrumpOrganization’s CFO, referencing an “agreement.” But that email says nothing about a “retainer agreement” specifically, & in fact, per Cohen’s testimony, refers back to his agreement w/ Weisselberg & #Trump to disguise reimbursements for the #HushMoney payment.
In NY, written retainer agreements are generally required between lawyers & their clients, though there are exceptions that might apply in the case of #Trump & #MichaelCohen. Specifically, lawyers don’t always need to establish a written retainer when they are performing the same type of legal work they’ve done previously.
#Blanche key themes:
the documents —referring to this as a “paper case.”
Distance from it —#Trump, saying the leader of the free world had nothing to do w/the way documents were classified at the #TrumpOrganization.
Attack #MichaelCohen as a liar who was too greedy to do #legal work for free.
“What makes more sense?” Blanche asks now, asking whether the prosecutors’ allegations are more logical than the simple idea that Trump agreed to pay Cohen for legal work.
#Blanche is now mocking prosecutors’ inclusion of #Trump’s own words in one of his partially ghostwritten books from years ago, which was entered into evidence as proof of him being a micromanager. “If the government reads to you quotes from a book a decade, more than a decade earlier, you should be suspicious,” Blanche says. “That’s a red flag”
#Blanche argues that the 12 ledger entries at issue in the case were classified as #legal services because the #TrumpOrganization's software used a dropdown menu in which one of the limited options provided is: “legal expense.”
Needless to say, the dropdown menu does not have a “repayment for hush-money deal” option.
That Cohen did actual legal work for #Trump around when he received the payments from Trump has always been one of the defense’s strongest arguments.
#Blanche argues #MichaelCohen’s testimony about an all-important meeting w/ #Trump in Jan 2017, in which the president-elect signed off on the repayment scheme, is not “corroborated by anything, there’s not a shred of evidence.” And it's true that no one other than Cohen has directly testified about that conversation.
But it’s not true that there is not a “shred of evidence” — in fact, there is lots & lots of circumstantial + documentary evidence about what happened.
Evidence including notes made by #AllenWeisselberg about how #MichaelCohen would be repaid for the #HushMoney, & an email that the defense just highlighted in its own closing referring back to the agreement.
#Blanche depicts #Trump as too distracted to focus on the matters of the checks & the payments. Cutting against a long-acknowledged #Trump trait: his proclivity for attention to minutiae in times of stress.
#Blanche says that #Trump wasn’t known for overpaying, & testimony suggested #MichaelCohen didn’t deserve to be paid much for his campaign work, particularly #HopeHicks's testimony that Cohen occasionally went “rogue”.
Blanche: “That’s not exactly a glowing performance evaluation that justifies a larger bonus.”
At the same time, Blanche argues the $420k Trump did pay Cohen was for unspecified #legal work.
Confusing: Blanche highlights that “some sort of tax scheme” was involved in the repayment to #MichaelCohen. Prosecution’s theory of the case is that #Trump falsified records to cover up a #conspiracy to #influence the 2016 #election — & one way to prove the conspiracy is that #tax#crimes were involved. It’s unclear why Blanche would draw the jury’s attention to an important aspect of the prosecution’s case.
In his follow-up to this argument about a #tax scheme, #Blanche asks why #MichaelCohen didn’t remember the amount he was meant to be owed each month & why the checks didn’t always come from #Trump. Again, even as he seeks to cast doubt on the prosecution’s argument, he reminds jurors of what the other side wants them to believe.
#Blanche argues there was no #intent by #Trump to #defraud — a #legal concept at the heart of the case. Every time Blanche says the phrase “intent to defraud,” the judge looks at him — but so far, Justice #Merchan has not interrupted him.
Blanche argues the prosecution must show that Trump “caused” the false records. He’s correct about the wording in NY’s #FalseRecords#Law, but “caused” is not a super high bar.
The prosecution alleges that #Trump was present when his employees hatched a plan to falsify the records, & did not stop them from doing so. The prosecution could even argue that Trump, as the boss, effectively approved the plan & thus caused it.
#Blanche tries persuading the #jurors that in order to #convict, they must find that #Trump sought to promote his own candidacy for president “by unlawful means.” Blanche is trying to cast doubt on some of the “unlawful means” the prosecutors will argue later.
Blanche says that it didn’t matter if there was “a conspriacy to win an election … Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy.”
#Blanche is trying to suggest that the meeting that Trump & #MichaelCohen had in 2015 w/ #Pecker, of The #NationalEnquirer, when prosecutors say they hatched a plan to suppress damaging stories about #Trump & promote negative ones about his rivals, was SOP between a presidential #candidate & the #press. It was not.
Blanche suggests that bc Pecker’s relationship w/Trump, & their #CatchAndKill agreement, was not an #election#conspiracy bc it predated the campaign.
While it’s true that circulation for The #NationalEnquirer wasn’t huge, #Trump had a hugely popular Twitter feed & giant rallies, & during the 2016 campaign, he & his allies would post & he would talk about this stuff to amplify them.
The Enquirer has broken several stories over the yrs involving politicians & celebrities having affairs, incl’g fmr Senator John Edwards, who was a presidential candidate, & Tiger Woods.
#Blanche says that despite the prosecution arguing that David #Pecker agreed to suppress negative stories on #Trump’s behalf in 2015 — a practice known as #CatchAndKill — the phrase "catch & kill" was not used at that meeting. “Make no mistake about it,” Blanche says.
Blanche argues there was “nothing unusual” about catching & killing, & that Pecker testified that The #NationalEnquirer only published ~½ of the stories it purchased.
Meanwhile, President #Biden's campaign is holding a news conference outside the courthouse in Manhattan, a guarantee of attention since the media has been stationed here for week.
The speakers have focused not on the #TrumpTrial, but largely on the insurrection by #Trump supporters on #Jan6, 2021, & the threats the Biden campaign argues Trump poses to #democracy & the nation's future.
#Blanche addresses the 3 specific #CatchAndKill deals prosecutors allege #Pecker was involved in, all of which they say were designed to protect #Trump. Defense argues all 3 stories are false.
He characterizes the 1st, involving a doorman at a #TrumpOrganization bldg, as “literally a made up story designed to harm President Trump.”
Blanche talks about Playboy model #KarenMcDougal who sold the rights to her story of an affair w/Trump to The #NationalEnquirer's parent co, #AMI.
#Blanche doesn’t harp on the idea that her story was a lie to damage #Trump. But he is very animated as he argues that McDougal, who did not testify, was not initially interested in selling her story.
Blanche argues both that #CatchAndKill deals are normal & that these weren’t catch-&-kill deals.
Prosecutors have objected to #Blanche 2X,
w/1 overruled & 1 sustained, as #Blanche talks about #Pecker saying he consulted lawyers about the deal.
Blanche attacks the phrase #CatchAndKill as if it were central to prosecution’s case. Prosecutors have stayed away from using it. It wasn’t in their opening statement, or the portion of the statement of #facts they released when #Trump was #indicted explaining their theory of the #conspiracy.
#Blanche claims that #MichaelCohen fully fabricated an encounter that he had w/Pecker in which #Pecker expressed anger that he had not been repaid for 1 of the #HushMoney deals. “Ladies & gentlemen, that lunch did not happen,” Blanche said. “Cohen made it up.”
Blanche doesn’t provide any #evidence Cohen made it up. Instead, Blanche reminds jurors that they should pay close attention to documentary evidence in assessing Cohen’s testimony.
#Blanche is skipping around in his summation, which is making it a little hard to follow.
He now turns back to the recording that #MichaelCohen secretly made of a conversation he had w/ #Trump about the #KarenMcDougal payment.
Blanche suggests there is some kind of dispute over the authenticity of this recording. There isn’t. The recording sounds exactly the same as the one CNN played in 2018.
#Blanche attacks the recording. “This conversation is Mr. Cohen & President Trump literally talking past each other about what is going on,” he says, arguing that his client “has no idea what #MichaelCohen is talking about.”
Blanche comes up with an alternate version of why #Trump asked about “financing” in their taped conversation: that Trump was simply caught off guard & had no idea what was being discussed.
Blanche mocks #MichaelCohen's suggestion that there would have been essentially a duffle bag of cash that was used to make the #HushMoney payment, & says Cohen made it up. Perspective: #Trump was once paid a portion of a lease for a parking garage in gold bricks.
Defense's closing argument has now been going for >2 hrs. Blanche attacks Cohen, but he’s not focused on the docs at issue, or Trump’s role in creating them. Instead, he’s all over the place.
Blanche lays the groundwork for his most important attack on Cohen, saying he is the only witness who testified that Trump knew everything about the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.
While other witnesses testified about #Trump’s knowledge of the payment — notably #HopeHicks — #MichaelCohen connected Trump to the case like no other witness, including when he testified about the Jan 2017 conversation at Trump Tower, when Trump okayed the arrangements to hide the reimbursements.
“There is no way that you can find that President Trump knew about this payment at the time it was made w/o believing the words of Michael Cohen — period,” Blanche says.
#Blanche argues that if #StormyDaniels's allegations were so scary to the #Trump campaign, why didn’t it swing into action in April 2016, when a woman working w/ Daniels got in touch w/The #NationalEnquirer's parent company?
After the break, #Blanche says that he has ~½ hr left of his closing argument. Judge Merchan says the jurors have agreed to stay late if needed, meaning closing arguments may end today.
Blanche discusses statements by #StormyDaniels that she testified she was coerced into making. This doesn’t seem to have much to do w/the case but is the kind of client-pleasing shit we’ve seen from #Trump attys.
#Blanche 2X notes that #StormyDaniels denied having sex w/Trump.
While this is technically true —she did put out a statement denying they had an AFFAIR in early 2018— she subsequently provided her account of the sexual encounter to “60 Minutes,” in a book, in a documentary & in this trial, on the stand, where she testified under oath.
#Trump has repeatedly denied the sex occurred, but has never done so under oath.
#Blanche, draws on a 2018 recording in which #StormyDaniels's lawyer at the time said that his client had “settler’s remorse” for having agreed not to tell her story. Blanche claims that Daniels changed not because she decided to tell the #truth, but because she wanted to make #money.
Blanche introduces what he calls a “separate conspiracy” between Daniels, #GinaRodriguez, her manager at the time, & #DylanHoward, who was the editor of The #NationalEnquirer.
Neither Rodriguez nor Howard testified, & their absence may give #Blanche room to spin his theory. He notes that, in a text, Howard said that he was not working on #Trump’s behalf. Blanche suggests Howard was acting against the interests of David #Pecker, his publisher.
Blanche again tells the jury, that NDAs are not inherently problematic, adding that there is nothing “illegal,” “sinister” or “criminal” about them.
Blanche alternate theory re #StormyDaniels's motive is that Dylan Howard, editor of The #NationalEnquirer, & Gina Rodriguez, Daniels’s manager, seized an opportunity in Oct 2016 to make $ from Daniels’s story.
Problematically, his alt version doesn’t address the falsified documents on which there were weeks of testimony from Pecker, #MichaelCohen & others.
#Blanche argues the #AccessHollywood tape, in which #Trump boasted about grabbing women by the genitals, is being portrayed by prosecutors as something it wasn’t: a “doomsday event” for his presidential campaign. Anyone who covered that election can tell you that the people around Trump & the broader #GOP thought it was catastrophic for his chances. So much so that there were talks of dropping Trump from the ticket.
#Blanche says that #Trump’s reaction to the #AccessHollywood tape was not what is being depicted by prosecutors — “He was concerned about his wife, he was concerned about his family,” he says — though he adds, moments later: “I’m not suggesting that it wasn’t a big deal for the campaign. Of course not. It was.”
#Blanche argues #StormyDaniels was called to testify in order to inflame the jurors’ emotions & to embarrass #Trump. Prosecutors object, but Justice #Merchan allows it.
Blanche seizes on testimony from #MichaelCohen, who told Daniels's lawyer in a recorded call in Oct 2017 —before Trump turned against him— that he cared about his boss & he wasn’t going to play “penny wise, pound foolish” & betray him. Cohen then says “I’m sitting there & I’m saying to myself, ‘What about me?’”
#Blanche moves on to #MichaelCohen’s relationship w/ #RobertCostello, a lawyer who Cohen testified had been part of a pressure campaign to keep him from flipping on #Trump in 2018 (& whose testimony was insane)
Blanche argues there is “no doubt” that Costello, who is 1 of only 2 witnesses the defense called, served as Cohen’s atty —the trial presented plenty of doubt about the nature of Cohen & Costello’s relationship.
#Blanche mocks #MichaelCohen’s testimony about the evening of 24 Oct, 2016. The testimony on which the defense lawyers felt they had scored a key point, because they presented #evidence that Cohen had talked to #KeithSchiller, #Trump's bodyguard, about a 14-yr-old pranking him. Cohen clarified on redirect that he had talked to both Schiller & Trump during the call & prosecution entered into evidence photos of Trump & Schiller next to each other mins before the call.
But the defense clearly thinks it has a winning argument here. “It was a lie,” #Blanche yells of #MichaelCohen’s testimony. He calls it “perjury,” emphasizing each syllable in the word.
Blanche reminds jurors that there is an oath to tell the truth & says that it “matters to most.” 🤣🤣
#Blanche lists the people who he says #MichaelCohen has lied to, which includes his wife, his children, his banker, the #FEC & “every single reporter he talked to for about a year.”
Blanche tries what sounds like an attempt at a punchline: “He’s literally like the MVP of liars.”
#Blanche again argues that #Trump was in the #WhiteHouse when he signed 9 of the checks. Implying Trump was distracted when he signed them, & that his signature does not suggest his knowledge of the scheme.
‼️Using a slide labeled “manipulation of evidence,” Blanche now argues (again) that #MichaelCohen somehow tampered w/the digital evidence from his phones, including recordings. (Objection to just the label FFS!)
#Blanche says #jurors cannot trust those recordings, & they cannot rely on #MichaelCohen himself — which, the defense has said many times, is a reason not to #convict#Trump.
Blanche then listed 10 reasons that he believed the jury should have #ReasonableDoubt as to Trump’s #guilt. But the list was hard to follow. He misstated the 4th point, which he then broke into 3 parts. He gave them all equal weight & barely mentioned some of them in the rest of his summation.
#Blanche calls Cohen: “The human embodiment of reasonable doubt, literally.” (Umm, no not literally)
Blanche introduces the acronym G.O.A.T., commonly used to stand for “greatest of all time.” He then applies the acronym to Michael Cohen. “Michael Cohen is the G.L.O.A.T.,” Blanche says. The “greatest liar of all time.”
Before he concluded, #Blanche asked that #jurors not send his client to #prison. Now, w/the jury excused, Joshua #Steinglass, who will give prosecution’s closing argument, stands up & objects.
“That was a blatant & wholly inappropriate effort to call sympathy for their client,” Steinglass says, asking for a curative instruction.
Justice #Merchan is excoriating Blanche for making an “outrageous” statement.
Justice #Merchan, furious, reminds #Blanche, & not for the first time, that he was a prosecutor long enough to know it was out of bounds for him to basically beg jurors not to send #Trump to #prison.
Merchan told the court that he plans to give jurors a curative instruction — in other words, general direction that is aimed at clearing up an erroneous statement.
An aside, under the court Trump is in, does the jury decide sentencing, or just the verdicts on the charges?
I know in civil matters, and in some criminal capital cases, the jury has some say in consequences, but in others, the judge is the one who determines sentencing.
Which makes the appeal even worse given incarceration is only a possible outcome IIRC. Clear my client, because he might not get a slap on the wrist.
Prosecutor Susan #Hoffinger reminds the judge that before the trial began, he himself precluded the jury from hearing anything about potential punishments for #Trump. “Mr. Blanche was certainly on notice that this was an improper argument,” Hoffinger says.
Hoffinger also argues that the defense misstated the #law when it came to how #legal retainer agreements work in NY. #Blanche argues that he is willing to litigate the issue further this evening.
Justice #Merchan calls in the #jury & instructs them that #Blanche’s comment about sending #Trump “to prison” was “improper” & that they must disregard it. He reminds them that a #prison sentence is NOT required in the event of a #guilty#verdict.
Joshua #Steinglass opens prosecution’s #ClosingArgument by reminding the #jury that during opening statements, his colleague said that the case, at its core, is about “a conspiracy & a coverup.”
He then delineates 3 elements that the prosecution must prove: That there were false business records, that they were used as part of the conspiracy & that #Trump himself was involved.
#Steinglass says that the defense seemed to question the prosecution’s integrity when referring to certain documentary #evidence.
“There’s nothing sinister here, no manipulation,” Steinglass says, explaining that all relevant calls are in evidence. Then he argues that in a defense exhibit showing calls between #MichaelCohen & another lawyer, #RobertCostello, the defense “double counted half the calls.” (prosecution got the witness to admit it on the stand)
↑This goes directly at 1 of the 10 reasons for reasonable doubt that #Blanche kinda listed at the end of his closing. Blanche questioned whether the #evidence was handled properly.
Next, #Steinglass says that one of the defense’s narratives is “this notion that #StormyDaniels is trying to extort the defendant … threatened to go public unless she was paid off. But that's just not reality.”
#Steinglass quickly disposes w/some of #Blanche’s arguments, including the idea that there was an alternative #conspiracy involving #StormyDaniels, her manager & a #NationalEnquirer editor. He says that the defense is trying to distract from a key issue in the case, adding, “In the end, all of this doesn’t really matter.”
#Steinglass addresses #StormyDaniels’s testimony, saying that while she does not like Trump — & wants to see him convicted — her testimony about her sexual encounter w/him was credible, w/details that had the ring of truth.
He says, the encounter itself was important, because if the jury finds Daniels's testimony credible, it explains why #Trump would have sought to buy her silence.
“If her testimony was so irrelevant, why did they work so hard to try to discredit her?” #Steinglass asks, adding, “#StormyDaniels is the motive.”
Steinglass reminds the jury of the many ways defense worked to discredit Daniels.
Steinglass moves on to #MichaelCohen. He agrees that Cohen wants #Trump convicted, but says that Cohen is “understandably angry that to date, he’s the only one who’s paid the price for his role in this #conspiracy.”
#Steinglass tells jurors #Trump would not have paid a lot of money to #StormyDaniels just because someone had a photo of them on a golf course.
Steinglass says anyone in #MichaelCohen’s shoes would want the defendant to be held accountable”
“Mr. Trump decided, like he often does, 'I’m not going to pay this bill,'” Steinglass said, of the payment to the tech firm for which Cohen was eventually overpaid when he was reimbursed in 2017.
#Steinglass notes that the defense accused #MichaelCohen of stealing for overstating the amount he was owed for paying the technology firm. Steinglass acknowledges that Cohen was wrong to steal. But, he says, “it’s not a defense to a false business records charge that one of the conspirators is also guilty for stealing from another.”
#Steinglass addresses another problem w/ #Blanche's argument — that he is trying to both say this wasn’t a reimbursement & it was also a legitimate legal expense.
“Their arguments are not necessarily consistent, but they’re passionate,” Steinglass says, about the defense's contradictory arguments at one point they argued #Trump didn’t know about the reimbursement & at another point that he did.
#Steinglass says #MichaelCohen sells #Trump merch & will continue to, regardless of the outcome of the #TrumpTrial.
He says you can “hardly blame him for making money from the one thing that he has left, which is his knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump phenomenon.”
Steinglass describes Cohen lying to Congress about his dealings w/a Trump project in #Russia. Steinglass says Trump has “chutzpah”—Cohen lied to help Trump, & now Trump is using those lies to undermine Cohen.
@Nonilex As long as the uneducated MAGA rubes are out there, Trump will play them. He doesn’t have to be smart, he just has to attract morons more moronic than him.
#Steinglass telling the jurors something #MichaelCohen has long said about #Trump:
“These guys know each other well. They speak in coded language, & they speak fast.”
Steinglass counters defense's argument that Cohen called Trump's bodyguard, #KeithSchiller, not Trump himself, on the evening of Oct 24. Defense argued that the call was about a teenage prank caller, not about arranging the #HushMoney payment, as prosecutors had said.
#Steinglass starts a timer & pretends to have the exact same conversation, he adds a bunch of asides & silences. He plays the role of Cohen, talking first to #KeithSchiller & then to #Trump.
The call feels loooong. When Steinglass stops the timer, it’s only been ~49 secs, about as long as the call in question.
The point: #MichaelCohen could have easily talked to both men, as he testified.
#Steinglass points out #MichaelCohen could have told whoppers about #Trump or attributed far more damaging comments to him. Steinglass says that Cohen didn’t do any of that “because he’s limited by what actually happened.”
#Steinglass reframes Cohen for the #jury. “Michael Cohen was really more of the defendant's #fixer than his #lawyer,” he says, calling Cohen “the guy w/the boots on the ground that could #bully people & #threaten them w/lawsuits.”
#Steinglass asks #jurors to remember that “we didn’t choose #MichaelCohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store.” Then he raises his voice & says that #Trump chose Cohen “for the same qualities that his attorneys now urge you to reject his testimony because of.”
Steinglass adds that Trump chose Cohen “because he was willing to lie & cheat on Mr. Trump’s behalf.”
#Steinglass is making the significant points that this case is not about #MichaelCohen, & that Cohen was exactly what #Trump wanted in a lawyer.
This is always the issue w/cooperating witnesses. As Jonah Bromwich put it, “if you want to know what happens in the gutter, you have to talk to the rats.”
Steinglass reminds jurors that Michael Cohen testified he went to his family who questioned his “blind loyalty” to Trump.
#Steinglass notes that #MichaelCohen has been consistently describing the events that took place in this case for 6 yrs.
Steinglass moves on from Cohen & turns to the documents prosecutors say were falsified. He displays a chart on the screens in front of jurors but says they don’t have to understand it just yet.
#Steinglass outlines their theory of the Aug 2015 meeting between #Trump, #MichaelCohen, & David #Pecker, of #NationalEnquirer, in which they agreed to a plot to suppress negative stories about Trump & promote negative stories about his opponents.
Steinglass punctures one of #Blanche’s go-to arguments —that The Enquirer is like all publications & Pecker's arrangement w/Trump wasn’t unusual. There is nothing normal or standard about what the tabloid was doing w/Trump.
Steinglass says while the phrase may not have been used much during the trial, the practice was exactly what had been agreed to, & argues that suppressing those stories amounted to committing a #fraud on American voters, pulling the wool over their eyes “in a coordinated fashion.”
#Steinglass notes that while NDAs are not inherently #criminal, but they are “indeed illegal when they serve an unlawful purpose.”
#Trump atty #Blanche barely stitched together a story, but tried to distance Trump from the documents & ended by attacking #MichaelCohen.
Steinglass tells a sweeping narrative about a #fraud on the American people, & argues that Americans had the right to determine if they cared that Trump slept w/a porn star while his wife was home w/their new baby.
“This scheme, cooked up by these men, at this time, could very well be what got President Trump elected,” #Steinglass says, concluding the portion of his closing that refers specifically to the #Trump Tower meeting. He moves on to the first of the #HushMoney deals, which involved the #TrumpOrganization doorman who was hawking a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
#Pecker came off as a genteel & soft-spoken person who still loves #Trump. And he offered some of the most damaging testimony of the trial.
FYI: criminalizing what Pecker & parent co AMI were doing is not part of the charges.
Steinglass shows how their actions & practices went far beyond what reporters actually do. The details of Pecker’s testimony demonstrate that the aim was to help Trump’s candidacy.
#Steinglass uses the case of the #TrumpOrganization doorman to illustrate a point about looking at testimony in its full context.
#Blanche had noted that #Pecker said he would have printed the doorman's story, about #Trump fathering a child out of wedlock, regardless of whether it was true. But Steinglass shows the jurors that Pecker added that he would have waited until after the election to do so. “Because that was what they agreed to do.”
#Steinglass now talks# about the 2nd of 3 hush-money deals, which involved #KarenMcDougal & was arranged by The #NationalEnquirer. He says that #Pecker & #DylanHoward of The Enquirer & #KeithDavidson, McDougal's lawyer, spoke in code. But you don’t have to be a codebreaker, he says, to understand what they were talking about
Steinglass also notes that the trio was communicating w/ #MichaelCohen, who testified that he had been charged w/keeping #Trump apprised of their progress
Steinglass is highlighting David Pecker’s testimony that he discussed Karen McDougal with Trump. Steinglass says it offered “powerful evidence” of Trump’s involvement in her hush-money deal, and showed he knew about the payment and was actively involved in arranging it.
Steinglass also notes that the testimony does not rely on Michael Cohen in any way.
#Steinglass tells the jury that #Pecker was willing to sacrifice his bottom line in service of #Trump’s campaign, & adds that this deal was “the very antithesis of a normal legitimate press function.”
Steinglass shows through call records the degree to which Trump would have had knowledge of the discussions around acquiring #KarenMcDougal’s life rights. Cutting against Blanche’s portrayal of Trump as a dupe who people took advantage of.
Steinglass argues that the conversation shows Trump’s “cavalier willingness” to hide this payoff & “unequivocally shows a presidential candidate actively engaging in a scheme to influence the election.”
#Steinglass resumes after the break w/the release of the #AccessHollywood tape in Oct 2016, & describes #Trump’s comments in that tape as having discussed “grabbing women by the genitals.”
He reminds the jurors that #HopeHicks testified that the news eclipsed that of a Category 4 hurricane on the East Coast.
Steinglass reminds jurors that the “Access Hollywood” tape was “vulgar to say the least” & said that #Trump sought to spin it as “locker-room talk.”
Steinglass describes the #Trump campaign’s reaction to the #AccessHollywood tape, & notes that the Trump campaign responded publicly that his words on the tape were “locker-room talk,” while they were quietly scrubbing the internet for anything that might be damaging to him. He shows that #HopeHicks relied on #MichaelCohen to use his media contacts to fight back against the negative press.
#Steinglass shows the jurors video clips of #Trump himself acknowledging that the “#AccessHollywood” tape & its aftermath could swing a very tight election. “If 5% of the people think it’s true, & maybe 10%,” Trump says in one clip, “we don’t win.”
Steinglass takes jurors through testimony from #HopeHicks describing what a disaster Trump understood the “Access Hollywood” tape to be, because she was “in the room where it happened.”
“During the exact same month that the defendant was desperately trying to sell the distinction between words & actions, he was negotiating to muzzle a porn star who was preparing to go public,” Steinglass says.
“#StormyDaniels was a walking, talking reminder that Trump was not just words" at a time when Trump was trying to distinguish between his words & both Clintons’ actions, #Steinglass said.
#Trump atty Todd #Blanche, during his closing, tried to convince the jury that the prosecution’s case relied entirely on #MichaelCohen. Josh #Steinglass is taking that argument on directly & indirectly. As he moves through the case’s timeline, showing every piece of documentary #evidence the prosecution has, he is reinforcing just how much does not rely on Cohen, but on the testimony of witnesses who are friendly to Trump & on phone records you can’t dispute.
Steinglass details calls between #Pecker & #MichaelCohen, w/ #HopeHicks occasionally in the mix, reminding jurors how enmeshed Cohen was & how much he talked to the campaign.
As he takes jurors through the mountain of documentary evidence, he sympathizes, “We don’t need to show all these calls & emails… they’re in evidence if you want to see them.”
#Steinglass needs to show the jurors that the alleged#Trump Tower conspiracy between David #Pecker, #MichaelCohen & #Trump involved using “unlawful means” to aid Trump’s election.
Steinglass displays one of the unlawful means, a document called a business information overview that Cohen created as he sought to obtain the cash to pay #StormyDaniels.
“There’s this crazy flurry of phone activity among the co-conspirators here,” Steinglass points out, & then rattles off the proper names — Michael Cohen to David Pecker, Pecker to Cohen, Cohen to Keith Davidson — to illustrate just how much phone activity there was over just 30 mins.
“This is damning, right?” #Steinglass says, using conversational language as he highlights the records.
He argues that Cohen was getting the final sign-off from Trump before he initiated the sequence of financial transactions that would conclude w/him wiring $130k.
“As part of this process, yet another false business record is created,” #Steinglass says, leaving a trail of potential #UnlawfulMeans that jurors could draw on during deliberations as they seek to determine whether #Trump unlawfully influenced his election victory.
On 27 Oct 2016, the money was sent, & on 28 Oct, just 11 days before the #election, #StormyDaniels signed the NDA.
#Steinglass lands his argument by saying that while the sex between #StormyDaniels & #Trump took place in 2006, the payoff wasn’t until 2016 because his concern was NOT his family, as his lawyers have suggested, but the #election.
Though many of Trump’s family members have been staring at their phones throughout this summation, all of them looked up when Steinglass said that.
Steinglass reminds jurors that #HopeHicks sent over a statement for the story on behalf of Trump, & that Trump lied in the statement, saying he didn’t know anything about the Karen McDougal deal. Steinglass says Trump did know about it because he was on tape 2 months earlier talking about it.
#Steinglass:
“And then, on Nov 8, the defendant was elected president.”
He notes that some of the conspiracy’s characters were aware of their roles in #Trump's election. “What have we done?” #StormyDaniels’s atty texted the #NationalEnquirer editor.
Steinglass: “we’ll never know if this effort to hoodwink the American voter” made the difference in 2016. But prosecutors don’t have to prove that it did — they just have to show that Trump was a part of a #conspiracy to aid his victory.
Justice #Merchan thanks the #jurors for their patience & flexibility as he dismisses them for a 20-min break. Then, after they leave the room, he tells the lawyers, “they look pretty alert to me” & says that he will seek to finish closing arguments today — likely sometime in the evening, people are saying 7PM-ish. (My fingers are not thrilled)
A friend characterized this trial as "a division of the American electorate into angry and happy sides." Reading along with you, I am inspired to now contact them and admit that my profound sadness is indeed striped with - nay... plaid and paisley with - a very real tittering glee. Thanks, Nonilex. This is great.
Steinglass says Trump couldn’t just write Cohen a check, & jurors should make no mistake: While Cohen wanted a head pat from his boss, “he also wanted his money back.”
#Steinglass discusses Jan 2017, the month #Trump was inaugurated. He describes a meeting between #MichaelCohen & #AllenWeisselberg who Cohen testified had made the arrangements to reimburse Cohen for the #HushMoney. “Right on the bank statement, Weisselberg & Cohen calculated all the money that was owed to Cohen,” Steinglass says.
#Steinglass highlights #MichaelCohen’s testimony implicating #Trump in the charged #crimes. He shows jurors, using highlighted transcript pages, Cohen’s testimony that Trump not only approved the arrangement but was aware that the reimbursements would be classified as payments for #legal services.
Steinglass refers to these exhibits as “the smoking guns” of the prosecution’s argument, saying they “completely blow out of the water the claim the money paid to Cohen” was for legal services.
#Steinglass is now focused on the“gross-up” of the amount that #MichaelCohen was paid for tax purposes. Legitimate legal fees are not “grossed up.”
Steinglass reminds the jury that #JeffreyMcConney, the fmr controller of the #TrumpOrganization, testified that in 50 yrs he was never aware of a payment being doubled for taxes. He then argues that this gross-up was made because the reimbursement was disguised as income.
#Steinglass acknowledges that nearly every relevant piece of evidence in the trial suggests that #Trump would be reluctant to overpay for anything. But, Steinglass says, “it was worth it” to the newly elected president. “It was worth it to hide the truth about what this money was really for.”
Also you gotta think the #MichaelCohen extra costs were factored into the agreed upon figure to #StormyDaniels.
“You almost have to laugh at the way Mr. #Blanche explained it to you,” he says. “They would have destroyed evidence — committed another crime — to hide this crime, but because they didn’t do that, & these documents exist” that’s evidence that there was no crime.
If that logic held, no charge of falsifying business records would ever be successful because “The existence of the false business record in the first place would prove there was no intent to defraud.” Then, #Steinglass asks, concluding his point, “doesn’t that seem a little bit circular to you?”
#Blanche tried to make the fact that #MichaelCohen didn’t remember how much he was owed each month for the reimbursements into a suspicious thing. But #Steinglass says it demonstrates that there was no retainer agreement, & that the knowledge & the math was then in the hands of #Trump’s employees.
#Steinglass addresses Blanche’s earlier point that #MichaelCohen did other #legal work for #Trump in 2017. He argues that Cohen did <10 hrs of legal work that year & says Cohen spent more time being cross-examined during this trial than he spent doing legal work in 2017.
Steinglass argues that, if the defense's arguments that Cohen was being paid for legal services held up, Trump would have ended up paying Cohen at a rate that would have added up to >$100M annually.
#Steinglass notes that #Trump himself has, several times in several places, “admitted” that the payments to #MichaelCohen were reimbursements, not payments for #legal services. This might not be a devastating argument for the defense if they’d proposed an alternative theory of the case. But instead they argued the $420k sent to Cohen was in fact a payment for legal services, so these admissions from Trump himself are not good for him.
Steinglass shows Trump’s filing w/the federal government’s Office of Government #Ethics in May 2018 that revealed #Trump had made a payment to #MichaelCohen. The filing came days after #RudyGiuliani said on #FoxNews that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the #StormyDaniels payment.
#Steinglass says that defense is arguing that #AllenWeisselberg & #MichaelCohen assumed authority over large amounts of #Trump’s money. “That’s crazy,” Steinglass says. “Neither one had anywhere near that kind of authority.”
Steinglass attacks defense’s “false narrative” about #Trump not attending to his finances after he became president. He notes an assistant in the #WhiteHouse, #MadeleineWesterhout, testified Trump paid extremely close attention to his personal finances.
#Steinglass revisits the passages of #Trump’s books which were read to the jury during the trial. Trump described himself as a frugal micromanager who advised always looking at & questioning invoices.
In one excerpt, Trump said that while decorators are generally good people, you should be very careful checking their invoices. “If Donald Trump is checking the invoices for his decorator, you can bet that he’s checking the invoices for #MichaelCohen,” Steinglass says.
“No detail is too small to consider” &, after talking about his preference for personally signing checks “When you sign a check yourself, you’re seeing what’s really going on inside your business.”
Steinglass points jurors to testimony from #HopeHicks, in which Hicks said that Trump had expressed it “would have been bad” to have the #StormyDaniels story come out before the election.
#Steinglass is now in hour 5 of his closing (including breaks).
Steinglass is telling the prosecution’s theory w/a strong narrative. Blanche’s didn’t; his version was, everyone’s a liar & out to get #Trump.
Steinglass reviews evidence from spring 2018, when #MichaelCohen was under investigation & beginning to question his loyalty to Trump. He argues that, whatever jurors think of Cohen, “he was the defendant’s fixer, & like all fixers, he knew where the bodies were buried.”
Prosecutors have argued that a lawyer named #RobertCostello was dispatched to keep #MichaelCohen loyal. Costello was the only substantive witness called by the defense, & his appearance was nutso 🦇💩
#Steinglass moves to #MichaelCohen’s guilty plea to federal crimes. When #Hoffinger questioned Cohen about the pleas, she asked if he’d committed #crimes at Trump’s behest. Cohen said that he had.
Steinglass reads portions of that testimony aloud, before pivoting to #Trump’s tweets blasting Cohen right after he pleaded guilty.
Steinglass argues the tweets were a message to other witnesses. “Cooperate, & you will face the wrath of Donald Trump.”
#Steinglass again reads passages of obe of Trump’s books, in which he wrote that he can’t stomach disloyalty. Steinglass argues that #Trump disparages #witnesses who speak out against him in order to discourage other witnesses from coming forward.
Steinglass reads a Truth Social post of Trump’s from Aug 2023, in which he wrote in all capital letters: “if you go after me, I”m coming after you.”
#Steinglass continues the argument on #WitnessIntimidation, noting that #Trump attacked #StormyDaniels on social media the same day she had an interview w/the Manhattan DA’s office. Steinglass argues that the post contains a lie — in it, Trump said that he hadn’t seen or spoken to Daniels since meeting her on a golf course in 2006.
Steinglass says that the jury knows it to be a lie because #RhonaGraff, Trump’s loyal asst, testified that Daniels had met w/Trump at Trump Tower.
#Steinglass: “Ask yourselves, why did the defendant lie about this & why did he do it while the grand jury was considering charges in this case?”
Steinglass asks why, if #Trump simply had a business relationship w/ #StormyDaniels, he attacked her in March 2023 when she made public that she had appeared before the grand jury.
With the jury out of the room, the prosecution & defense argue about whether #Steinglass can talk about #StormyDaniels’s state of mind.
Justice #Merchan hears the lawyers out & sides w/the defense, telling Steinglass that he’s gone as far as he needs to go in talking about Daniels being #intimidated by Trump, & that no further argument to that effect need be made.
This dust-up over #Trump and his #intimidation of #StormyDaniels serves as a great example of the irony norms seem to constantly thrusts upon modern humans. Stormy Daniels would mop the goddam floor with Donald Trump in a physical altercation, I'd wager.
Break over. Justice #Merchan thanks the jurors for their flexibility & calls #Steinglass back to the lectern. Before they returned, the judge told Steinglass that he needed to wrap up — at least for the day — by 8PM (wuh?). If he does not conclude by then, it sounded as if it was possible that Steinglass would have to conclude tomorrow.
@Nonilex
Isn't 8 pm Donald's bedtime ?
He doesn't have the energy to hang with the big boys till 3am like he used to.
Guess all those pedo parties wore him out.
#Steinglass, who had stuck to a chronological timeline, goes back to 2016 to connect #Trump to each element that prosecutors say is a #crime. He argues that David #Pecker corroborated the idea that #MichaelCohen had kept Trump up to date on the #HushMoney payments at every step. Cohen, Steinglass says, “is not some rogue actor here.”
Steinglass talks about the infamous tape of Trump & Micahel Cohen discussing the payment to #KarenMcDougal.
@Nonilex
I’m getting worried that the prosecution made a strategic mistake in trying to get through all of this material today. I’ve sat on a jury and going overtime is awful. It’s really hard to stay engaged and enthusiastic.
He reviews the evidence from that month that corroborates Cohen’s testimony, including his calls w/Trump.
Steinglass rhetorically asks, “Is this timing just all a coincidence, every single one of these things?” Then says, “Mr. Trump is being kept abreast of every development.”
#Steinglass highlights other key testimony, including #HopeHicks's remarks that it would have been “out of character” for #MichaelCohen to have made that payment out of the kindness of his heart — meaning, without approval from #Trump.
Steinglass is linking Trump to each & every action that prosecutors say led to the #crime, the falsification of 34 business records related to the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels.
#Steinglass reviews the case for what may be the final time, starting w/the #Trump Tower meeting. So this is an abridged version of his already abridged timeline, reducing the case down to its key elements.
Steinglass presents the very many moments at which Trump spoke to key players in this series of events around the #StormyDaniels payment.
#Steinglass makes a specific argument — that #MichaelCohen wasn’t just freelancing, as the #Trump lawyers have suggested repeatedly trying to distance Trump from the events in the case. It’s a microcosm of scenarios we’ve seen over & over w/Trump for decades. #SEC investigators are told that staffers made mistakes, or reporters are told Trump was never really involved in specific controversies & aides actually had.
#Steinglass says that #MichaelCohen just wanted to be reimbursed & had no reason to push for creating false business records. “The defendant was the beneficiary of this entire scheme,” Steinglass says. “He was the one trying to get elected.”
#Steinglass tells the jurors that thejudge will explain reasonable doubt to them and & them to listen carefully. He reminds them of the concept of #AccessorialLiability: That a person who directs someone to commit a #crime is equally guilty of that crime. Steinglass brings up his preferred analogy for this, the husband who hires a hitman to kill his wife. The defense objects & the judge sustains it: It is his role to explain the #law, not Steinglass’s.
#Steinglass again shows the jury People’s Exhibit 350, a chart created by the prosecutors that summarizes the 34 counts. Earlier, Steinglass specifically called out this exhibit & told the jury that they could request to see this document during their deliberations. It will be interesting to see if they take him up on that when they start to deliberate tomorrow.
Steinglass says the prosecution presented a “mountain of evidence” related to its theory of the #Trump Tower #conspiracy.
#Steinglass says that #Trump’s #intent to #defraud could not be any clearer, arguing that Trump could have simply paid #StormyDaniels himself, but instead devised an elaborate scheme to pay Daniels secretly that required the involvement of at least 10 other people. “Everything Mr. Trump & his cohorts did in this case was cloaked in lies,” Steinglass says, adding, “The name of the game was concealment, & all roads lead to the man who benefited the most, Donald Trump.”
#Steinglass says that the evidence is overwhelming & that while #Trump is a former president, the #law applies to him the same as it does to everyone else.
Specifically, Steinglass invokes Trump’s infamous line about being able to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue & get away with it, saying that he in fact can’t. Blanche objects, & Merchan sustains it.
Trump shakes his head as Steinglass says this line.
#Steinglass says that soon it will be time to deliberate and that the jurors should return & find #Trump guilty on all 34 counts against him. He asks that, in the interest of #justice & the state of #NewYork, the jurors find Trump guilty. He thanks the jurors for their time & he’s done.
@Nonilex You've undoubtedly received hundreds of "Thank You" notifications. You deserve them.
I'm going to predict a verdict on Tuesday. On TV, I heard a prediction of Friday due to "Friday Effect" but I think with the weight of this case, even jurors who are leaning "guilty" from the start will want to be very careful. I would.
So I predict Tuesday, and I hope for a verdict of guilty on all charges.
@Nonilex I like the reference to the state of NY. The city has wanted rid of the guy for ages, so it should motivate them to think "enough of this guy's crap - time for some consequences."
Also there’s #Exhibit36, in which #JeffMcConney describes in McConney’s own handwritten notes based on a conversation he had w/ #AllenWeisselberg. He testified #Exhibit35 contains on the left-hand side, Allen Weisselberg’s handwriting. McConney said, I know it’s his handwriting because I’ve worked w/him for 35 yrs.
@Nonilex Big mad baby is gonna finally lose. I want to see him in Jail but I don't think the judge will do that because of the political implications. What he might do, if it's allowed, is ban him from fundraising for a period of time, say, for the next 5 years.
@Nonilex
I too often see him yelling "NOT FAIR!". That along with the rest of his rants bring to mind a little child who doesn't like a parent saying "We have rules you must follow or face consequences"...stomping and throwing an angry fit.
@Nonilex
Yes indeed he is all that. I remember reading about him pre-1980s and I disliked him back then. He always came across as "slimy"--manipulative.
@Nonilex Didn't #Trump waive the dependence on counsel defense a very long time ago...since it would have required him to testify? Did I get that right? It seems Trump is the one deranged, not DeNiro... TY for all you do. It was so helpful to have you do the play-by-play today while @GottaLaff was traveling.
@Nonilex
"to tweet" is a verb, so "to retweet" is semantically possible and makes sense. "to truth" is not a verb, so "to retruth" is semantically nonsense and doesn't make any sense. In German the fictitious verb would be "wahrheiten" and "weiterwahrheiten", what is as well semantically impossible and doesn't make any sense and almost makes me puke just imagining it. I think all the garbage of wacko 45 uttered on truthsocial speaks for itself and the intelectual deficits of #stinkyorangefuck
@Nonilex
Such a whiney crying lying baby. He is just incapable of learning. Once he decides something is fact, nothing will change that, ever. He did assimilate the fact that an advice of counsel defense was a thing. He saw it as a get out of jail card and decided it was applicable.
Cohen was not his atty; crime fraud exception; defendant must testify -
none of that matters to him.
Like a defective roomba, he will just keep bumping into that wall over and over...
@Nonilex he was absolutely allowed to use the “on advice of counsel” defense but it would generated a lot of evidence he might not want revealed. His own attorneys made this decision up front in the case. But TFG is eternally aggrieved so this makes much more noise this way, and riles up his legally (and otherwise) ignorant base.
@Nonilex
Aww trumputo is upset, everyone.
He hates it when he's described exactly as he is, by a celebrity who'll be remembered long after he's rotted in his orange jumpsuit, no less 😂😂😂
@Nonilex By itself, the conclusion of closing arguments in the #felony#trial of #trump today is a cause for celebration! The case is now with a jury composed of people a lot like us and their decision will be further demonstration of the power of law over individuals. Take a breath, enjoy the moment, and make a memory.
No one knows how #Trump will hold up, butt we have a pretty good idea how he'll sleep tonight: #Troophing on #TroophSocial, where the #Trooph is all that splatters.
@Nonilex Five hours. Closing statements have been going on all day. These jurors are superhuman. Or they really don’t want to continue with closing statements tomorrow!
@Nonilex
Important point, if the money paid to #MichaelCohen was a retainer, wouldn't there be documentation supplied of the small amount of work performed, credited against the retainer? An accounting of hours? With all of his resources as #POTUS who believes #TrumpTrial hired him as a "personal attorney" for his brilliant legal mind?
Show of hands?
@Nonilex Well FFS [Weiselberg?] scrawled it out entirely right there: “⁴²⁰⁽⁰⁰⁰⁾⁄₁₂ = 35,(000) pr/mo [on?] 2/1/17” on it. Those checks weren’t a retainer.
@Nonilex Nonilex, I can help! I'm Adjunct Professor at Trump Univ GMT Dept of Geography & Mappy Things. The Filibuster was invented by Philips the Dutch electronics company as an accessory to the C-Cassette, in response to Sony's Walkman. Filibusters are manufactured out of old fillings in the Philippines
@Nonilex Nonilex, I can help! I'm Adjunct Professor at Trump Univ DST Dept of Discography & Songy Things. When Buster Poindexter and Phil Collins toured as a duo in the 1990s, they were billed as Filibuster. Phil was angry it was not Philibuster. Their only release was Sus-Sus-Sudio-Rub-Rub-Rubio. It bombed
@Nonilex: Your patience and thoroughness are greatly appreciated. Today's will be an interesting transcript to read when it becomes available, hopefully tomorrow.
Was the fact that wife was home with new baby allowed into evidence? I recall some discussion that it wasn't going to be allowed?
Are these Steinglass's words or yours, @nonilex? (if you don't have time to answer I understand)
All that whining about fake news turned out to be projection.
"argues that suppressing those stories [using catch and kill] amounted to committing a #fraud on American voters, pulling the wool over their eyes “in a coordinated fashion.”
@Nonilex Wow - that's a very good point to nail. Sure he's a sleazeball, that's why the defendant hired him.
They should've done a walk through of all the other sleazy, convicted/incarcerated people he's acquired to work for him over the years, but it would've probably been ruled inadmissible.
Plus in bringing out that Cohen stole from trump by padding the amount trump owed Cohen for the technology firm that rigged a poll, the defense admits that $50,000 of the $$ paid to Cohen were falsely recorded as legal fees!
@Nonilex
I hope it's a very blunt instruction, like, Jurors, the defense attorney gave you wrong info, he lied to you. I know the judge won't, but it would be so refreshing to hear some clear, plain language.
@Nonilex I'm surprised the prosecutor didn't object during the closing to Blanche's inappropriate reference to jail - that would have both thrown Blanche off track, and resulted in a more immediate curative instruction so the jury would immediately know what a POS argument that was.
@Nonilex When #Blanche looks back at his career, nay, his life, and reflects on this moment, the odds of him having complete satisfaction are zero. What does it profit a man to sell his soul? In law school we were taught no client is worth your Bar card. His was apparently up for sale. He is giving mouthpieces a bad name.
@Nonilex
Blanche argues that Cohen's invoices were accurate and legitimate retainer invoices. If that's the case, then Cohen didn't steal anything. They can't have it both ways.
@Nonilex Blanche knows he needs just one juror to wind up with a reasonable doubt. It’s similar to 45’s original election strategy—game the electoral college, game the jury. And I think he has a chance at success there. Terrifying, and I hope that the prosecutors can put any doubt to rest this afternoon.
@Nonilex and what about Trump's miserly ways? He doesn't want to pay his lawyers, himself, so he has his ill informed supporters send him their money. Yet, Trump actually signed off on enough undocumented $30K checks to cover Cohen's $130K payoff to Stormy? Seems to be highly atypical for tfg.
@Nonilex I think that, like Weisselberg, Cohen wouldn’t want to rock the boat while there were payments remaining in the pipeline. Besides, the ‘double-up’ is generous as ‘make-whole’ given no-one has an effective tax rate of 50%.
Thus any legal work performed (scanty as it was), was a token gesture of goodwill plus a nod an a wink at the purported reason.
Also, claiming accounting software can’t create new categories as needed is disingenuous; not that they would have added ‘Verbal Attenuation Fees’ in this scenario.
Your points of note, such as about the retainer agreement in New York: are they from the news feeds you are summarizing, @Nonilex? Or is this from your personal knowledge of the law? Or are you doing background research?
Sounds to me like Blanche is doing a lot of testifying that shudda happened when the defense put on its case — Blanch saying it now in closing doesn’t make it evidence!
That argument is badly undercut by the defense's lack of any evidence of actual work. If he had actually been doing legal work, they could have shown a log book, meetings, briefs, communications, and itemized accounts. They did none of those things.
I sat on a jury once, and I remember how solicitous that judge was of the jury out of public view. Each day before court, he came to the jury assembly room to greet us and I felt he created a bond with us, so that in the courtroom we took cues from him. Interestingly, it was a high-profile case about a local politico.
The flaw with Blanche noting that trump denies the sexual encounter, is that trump never denied it UNDER OATH, so his denial isn’t evidence in the case.
Whereas, Daniels’ compelling courtroom testimony came very close to making the encounter sound like a sexual assault (although she swears it was consensual), but trump might’ve known it was an assault, which would give trump even more incentive to cover it up pre-2016 elex.
@Nonilex you know, much as I'm a lifelong and firm believer in the court and jury system, there are times and cases when I long for the good old days of pitchforks, flaming torches and ordeal by fire.
@Nonilex
Two hours for the defense team to say well shit he's guilty but we don't have a thing to show his innocence
4 hours plus for the state to show all the goods and blow up any sense of innocence.
🤔
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Nonilex Trump and his supporters complaining that the sequence of arguments in his criminal trial is the same as every other NY criminal defendant is beyond disingenuous.
How do you say "I want special treatment" without saying you want special treatment?
@Nonilex Trump needed a stand-in for Ivanka so......here's Tiffany! Surprised he remembered her existence! I wonder what he bribed (threatened) her with?