While #Biden has so far avoided naming #Trump during his time abroad, he has increasingly warned of the dangers posed by the kind of #authoritarian & #isolationist impulses the fmr president has embraced in his push to return to the #WhiteHouse. #POTUS, who has said in the past that America’s very #democracy is at stake in the coming #election, …[has juxtaposed] #DDay’s 80th anniversary to sound the alarm about the advance of #antidemocratic forces across the globe.
#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.
#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!)
"Israeli officials seized equipment from the #AssociatedPress and shut down its long-standing #video feed of northern #Gaza on Tuesday...
The move was quickly denounced by free #press advocates, who portrayed it as an escalation of an effort to restrict coverage of the Israel-Hamas war...
In a statement, the Associated Press firmly condemned the government’s move...
This is a sweet story that I never heard. Jimmy Carter hosted a jazz celebration at the White House. He requested that they play “Salt Peanuts.” Dizzy Gillespie agreed on the condition that Carter sing it. He did.
Hamas would need to kill at least 25000 more innocent Israeli women and children for there to be equivalence between what it did and what Israel did; oh, and they would need to grow Tel Aviv by about 4 times its natural population, and then starve it and thirst it for six months also. Also while eliminating all its civilian infrastructure.
Someone really needs to kick #FoxNews#nepobaby#PeterDoocy's head off his narrow shoulders. This guy is a smarmy, dishonest prick whose entire job seems to be instigating irrelevant #gotcha moments in the #WhiteHouse press room. This is a perfect example...
The letters were sent hrs before #GOP-led #House Oversight & Judiciary cmtes were to advance a #contempt resolution against AG #Garland for defying a #subpoena demanding the recordings, which include hrs of Special Counsel Hur interviewing #Biden. #DOJ also sent #HouseRepublicans a letter Garland wrote Biden on Wed requesting he assert #ExecutivePrivilege bc releasing the tapes would “damage future #law enforcement efforts," as investigators request voluntary cooperation from #WhiteHouse ofcls.
#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 describes meeting w/ #Trump in the #OvalOffice in Feb 2017. He says that Trump asked him if he needed money, & that he said no, he didn’t need any extra. He said Trump asked him to “deal w/ Allen,” meaning #AllenWeisselberg, who arranged the repayment plan for the #HushMoney. Trump also said, Cohen testified, that he’d receive a check for both Jan & Feb.
Prosecutors display a picture of Cohen visiting the #WhiteHouse at the time.
A fmr White House aide who worked closely w/ #Trump returned to the stand to testify about a significant meeting between Trump & #MichaelCohen his personal lawyer that is at the center of Trump’s #criminal trial.
#Westerhout who worked for #Trump in the #WhiteHouse is back on the stand. Trump atty #Necheles —whose day ended yesterday w/the judge harshly criticizing her, saying she did not object as she should have to some of #StormyDaniels’s testimony— is back questioning this witness.
The prosecutors called Westerhout to testify about Trump’s behavior once in the WH, specifically whether he met w/ #MichaelCohen & how he dealt w/checks.
The prosecution asks that the defense be precluded from asking #StormyDaniels whether she was arrested. Justice #Merchan agrees w/the prosecutors, saying that “anybody can be arrested” & that it “doesn’t prove anything.”
The people call Stormy Daniels back to the stand
#Trump atty #Necheles begins questioning by saying that in 2011, Daniels denied having had sex w/Trump.
#Manochio testifies about her involvement in the sending of checks between the #TrumpOrganization & the #Trump#WhiteHouse. This is important for prosecutors as they seek to tie Trump to the repayments to #MichaelCohen, which came in the form of checks, including many signed by Trump himself. The jury has heard a lot of testimony about how Trump was careful to keep an eye on his money.
#Manochio says that at some point the person she was sending checks to changed from Schiller to John McEntee.
Asked who that was, she said, "Couldn't tell ya." #McEntee was a #Trump adviser & ally who was brought back to the #WhiteHouse in early 2020 (at the end of his term), as Trump tried to restaff w/ loyalists who would assist his attempt to retain power illegally.
The people called #MadeleineWesterhout. #Westerhout was Trump's executive assistant in the #WhiteHouse. She was fired after she spoke out of turn about the Trump family at an off-the-record dinner.
Westerhout went on to write a book in which she extensively praised #Trump. Prior to his presidency, she worked for the RNC. Trump is watching her, pursing his lips at times. He smirks when she says she is nervous to be here today.
Madeleine #Westerhout was one of #Trump's most trusted aides in the early #WhiteHouse years. She sat at a desk right outside the Oval Office & coordinated many of his calls, meetings and communications. She was a conduit to people on the outside & she was at Trump's side through much of the day.
#Westerhout abruptly left the #WhiteHouse in the summer of 2019 after #Trump learned that she had shared details about his family. She now works for Trump's former #NationalSecurity adviser Robert O'Brien, who runs a geopolitical consultancy.
Rebecca #Mangold, the prosecutor, asks #Westerhout whether she had a nickname in the press, & Westerhout says that she was known as "the greeter girl."
Westerhout acknowledges she knew #MichaelCohen, who paid #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels. She talks about when she began to work in the #WhiteHouse. She says her boss asked her if she had any interest "in sitting outside the #OvalOffice." Westerhout says she responded: "Yes, I do, that sounds like it would be a very cool job."
The prosecutor asks #Westerhout: "Was it your understanding that Mr. Trump & Mr. Cohen had a close relationship in 2017?"
Westerhout: “At that time, yes." She's now reading an email between herself & #MichaelCohen in which she's asking for his info in order to have him cleared to enter the #WhiteHouse. "Mr. Cohen was coming in to meet with the president," she adds.
Pay no attention to the proud #Republican puppy murderer! Instead, listen to #LaraTrump pivot, and blame #JoeBiden for an alleged increase in #euthanasia! That's right... #Dogs are being euthanized, and it's all #Biden's fault! I'll tell ya, for a dementia patient who is in a secret coma in the #WhiteHouse basement, Joe Biden sure does get around!
"In this conversation, Said addresses comparatively his years of experience during #ForeignPolicy briefings, notably on Palestine, at the #USStateDepartment and #WhiteHouse, with focus on the current war on #Gaza."