#Trump has a huge posse today, including #KashPatel; #GerryKassar, a #conservative party leader in NY; #BernieKerik, fmr NYPD commissioner who was imprisoned for tax fraud & false statements; #AlanDershowitz, lawyer who defended Trump during his first impeachment, & #BorisEpshteyn, legal adviser who was #indicted in AZ for attempts to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election.
#Blanche moves on to the documents that prosecutors say were falsified. He suggests that everyone BUT #Trump — #AllenWeisselberg, #EricTrump, #DonaldTrumpJr & #MichaelCohen himself — may have falsified the docs, disguising them as repayments for #legal services. But not Trump himself, Blanche signals to the jury, w/o saying it outright.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.
#MichaelCohen is going through check stubs for the first 2 checks & saying the descriptions of them were “false.” Cohen says both #EricTrump, who is sitting in the courtroom, & #AllenWeisselberg signed the first 2, from Trump’s revocable trust account. At some point, it switched to #Trump’s personal account.
Cohen is now testifying about checks Trump started signing himself, from his personal account.
One of the sons, #EricTrump, is the #TrumpOrganization’s de facto chief executive, & the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business in the near term.
#Trump will appeal the financial penalty — which could climb to $400 million or more once interest is added — but will have to either come up w/ the money or secure a #bond within 30 days. The ruling will not render him bankrupt, because most of his wealth is tied up in real estate.