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.
This case largely rests on #MichaelCohen tying #Trump to knowledge of how the false business records at the center of the case were structured. #Blanche is portraying Cohen as an indiscriminate liar who changes his story situationally.
Blanche is trying to show that Cohen has not fully taken responsibility for his #crimes & blames others, for corruption. However, by showing that Cohen lashing out at the judge & prosecutors, Blanche is making him sound a lot like Trump.
#Blanche is using #MichaelCohen’s claims of widespread corruption — in which Cohen has accused not just Manhattan federal prosecutors but the judge in his case of being out to get him — against him. He is also using his previous testimony that he didn’t commit the #crimes to which he pleaded against him.
Blanche finally arrives at the moment that prosecutors sought to prep the jury for: That Cohen said under oath at #Trump's civil #fraud trial he had lied to a federal judge.
#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.
Back in the courtroom, jurors are seeing the documents that prosecutors say are false. Yesterday #MichaelCohen described the Jan meeting w/ #AllenWeisselberg, when #Trump heard Weisselberg say that the monthly payments would be a retainer for legal services It is that single line from a witness— the word “yes” —that most directly attaches Trump to the alleged #crimes. And the signatures on the checks from his personal bank account.
Prosecutor #Hoffinger asks #MichaelCohen about committing federal #crimes, she also emphasizes the key themes of the prosecution's case, having him testify that he committed them on Trump’s behalf.
Prosecutors had to have Cohen address his crimes — if defense brought them up first, it may have looked as if prosecutors were hiding them. Hoffinger managed to use that part of testimony to restate the DA’s case, reminding jurors why they’re here: To assess #Trump’s guilt, not Cohen’s.
In 2023, during #MichaelCohen’s testimony at #Trump’s #civil#fraud trial, the defense was able to trip him up while asking him about one of his federal guilty pleas. There, he seemed to suggest that he wasn’t actually #guilty of one of the #crimes he had pleaded guilty to. Ever since, Trump’s lawyers have accused him of perjury.
Cohen pleaded guilty in Aug 2018 to a variety of federal crimes, including #CampaignFinance#law violations for his role in 2 #HushMoney deals w/ women who said they had sex w/ #Trump. He also pleaded guilty to personal financial #crimes unrelated to Trump, including tax evasion.
#MichaelCohen has now testified that he, #Trump & David #Pecker, the publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, entered into a plot to suppress negative stories about Trump. He says Pecker "would be able to help us to know in advance what was coming out" & try to stop it from doing so.
This is the #conspiracy prosecutors allege Trump participated in - 1 of the potential #crimes that transforms the charges Trump is facing into #felonies.
In a 2022 interview with NicolleDWallace, former CIA Officer Tracy Walder expressed concern that the documents unlawfully retained by former President Donald Trump could be linked to the deaths of CIA informants overseas. What caused her concern? The known timeline.
On May 6, 2021, the #USNatArchives
contacted the representatives of the former president demanding he return the documents that he had unlawfully retained and concealed.
August 26, 2022: The discovery of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, posing a significant risk to human intelligence sources, emphasizes the serious legal and security implications of Trump's mishandling of classified information after his presidency.
March 27, 2023: Trump's comments during an interview about the FBI's search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago reveal his misunderstanding of the Presidential Records Act and suggest an unconventional perspective on the ownership and monetization of sensitive information. His comparison to Nixon and the implication of monetizing classified documents indicates a significant departure from standard views on national security, raising serious questions about the potential risk to U.S. interests.
Speaking of #cat#crimes--a cautionary tale:
Wife brings home the Thing. Puts it on the kitchen table.
Later, the Cat gets bored and jumps on the table. Finds the Thing (amongst other things) and does what cats do: knocks the Thing off the table.
The #Dog, of course, is waiting. They work together at times like this. She picks up the Thing and retreats to the couch. Gnaws the box open. Gnaws what's inside apart. Spills the stuff inside the Thing all over...
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.
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.
This emphasizes the theme of #Trump as a micromanager, who wouldn't let his employees handle major transactions w/o closely supervising them.
However, Trump does say he might trust a loyal employee, such as #AllenWeisselberg, whom he name checks specifically & who prosecutors say helped orchestrate the continuing concealment of the #HushMoney payments, & who is currently in #jail for #crimes committed for Trump.
#Westerhout is the 2nd fmr Trump aide to cry during this trial. 🥱 The first was #HopeHicks, whose desk was right near Westerhout's outside the Oval Office.
The DA is using people who were very close to Trump in order to build their case that he committed #crimes. Both Westerhout & Hicks were witnesses sympathetic to Trump but still delivered damaging testimony against him.
Westerhout has made it very clear how much she cares about & respects Trump. 🙄
Since last December, Russian forces likely executed at least 15 Ukrainian soldiers who tried to surrender and possibly six who were already surrendering or had surrendered, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on May 2.
Trump, at a rally in Waukesha, #Wisconsin, called for tougher action against campus protests & again suggested some of the protesters were paid actors. He called on college presidents to “remove the encampments immediately, vanquish the locals & take back our campuses for all of the normal students.”
Like the #protesters, Biden believes that #Israel has inflicted too much carnage in #Gaza. Unlike some of them, he defends Israel’s sovereignty & recoils at the notion of Jews losing a homeland.
President Biden delivered a ferocious condemnation of criminal defendant Donald Trump, ahead of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, warning that Trump directed an insurrection and will aim to undo the nation’s bedrock democracy if he returns to power.
TODAY: Feds seek 3-years prison in Jan 6 case of Alex Harkrider
They say he "admitted to wearing body armor (w/ a plate carrier).. described the tomahawk axe he admitted to carrying as a 'tactical stick'..described walking around the evening of January 5 to 'check out the area.
HRW: Russia executes surrendering Ukrainian soldiers in possible war crimes (kyivindependent.com)
Since last December, Russian forces likely executed at least 15 Ukrainian soldiers who tried to surrender and possibly six who were already surrendering or had surrendered, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on May 2.