#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.
Justice #Merchan returns from lunch w/a ruling on the evidentiary issue raised before the break, involving stills from a video that show #Trump w/ his bodyguard #KeithSchiller on the evening of 24 Oct 2016.
Defense sought to cast doubt on #MichaelCohen’s account of talking to Trump on Schiller’s phone that day.
Merchan says he will NOT allow in video stills that show Schiller w/Trump.
Hold the phone — Joshua #Steinglass, a prosecutor, says the prosecution will seek to bring back a witness who works at #CSPAN & testified earlier, so that he can #verify the stills.
#Merchan asks when the witness, who does not live in NYC, could return.
#Blanche, who normally tries to slow things down to delay & draw out the trial, complains that prosecutors are doing just that w/their effort to recall this witness. He says it’s “patently unfair.”
#Steinglass is obviously frustrated w/Justice #Merchan’s ruling, saying he doesn’t understand why they have to jump through so many hoops just to show that #KeithSchiller & #Trump were together that night. He asks to bring the #CSPAN witness in again. Merchan asks Trump atty #Blanche if he objects to the prosecutors bringing in the CSPAN witness after the defense rests. Blanche does protest.
Justice #Merchan suggests adjourning until tomorrow so prosecution can bring the #CSPAN witness back on video stills #evidence.
Defense: "That's not the way a trial is supposed to work..."
Prosecution says CSPAN will make the witness — #RobertBrowning, who is executive director of archives at the network — available to testify at 9:30 AM tomorrow.
#Blanche objects to the decision by the judge that will interrupt his cross-examination of #MichaelCohen. #Steinglass says that the witness will be very quick.
Justice #Merchan points out that the #TrumpTrial has already been delayed, given that closing statements will be next week. He gives Blanche the option to decide when the witness can appear.
Prosecutor #Steinglass says that “we may be able to short circuit” this process after all. Instead, the prosecution & the defense will agree to allow the exhibit in.
This is the 2nd time in this #TrumpTrial that the defense, under pressure, agreed to let in #evidence, possibly bc they realize that a whole witness appearing just to allow the exhibit in could draw more attention to it.
So to be clear, we will not hear from the #CSPAN witness again. We are continuing w/the prosecutors’ re-direct of #MichaelCohen, who is back on the stand. The photo of #KeithSchiller & #Trump on 24 Oct 2016, which is what the lawyers were arguing about, is immediately entered into #evidence.
Note the jury is never present / privy to these types of arguments. They just hear Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, entering the stills into evidence.
Prosecutors play the recording of #MichaelCohen talking to #KeithDavidson, who was #StormyDaniels's lawyer, but are playing more of it than before. It corroborates much of what Cohen’s testimony about the #HushMoney payment, including that he cared about #Trump & that he would not “play pennywise, pound foolish” w/his then-boss.
#Blanche, who now has to contend w/the visual #evidence of #Trump w/his bodyguard, #KeithSchiller, on 24 Oct 2016, tries to address it directly. He asks Cohen to again confirm that he told Trump that day that he had arranged to pay #StormyDaniels the #HushMoney.
Cohen says once more that he spoke to both Schiller & Trump.
#Blanche suggests that the famously frugal #Trump would have been unlikely to overpay anyone — again harping on the disparity between the $130k that #MichaelCohen paid #StormyDaniels & the $420k that Cohen was repaid. “Did he happily write checks to lawyers, for example?” Blanche asks.
#Blanche concludes his re-cross-examination by asking #MichaelCohen if, in the 11 yrs he worked for #Trump, he ever recalled his boss having willingly overpayed for something. Cohen started by answering no, this was the first time — but then, he seemed to answer a different question, saying it was the first time he recalled Trump paying for a #NDA. Which wasn’t the question asked — confusing.
She starts by asking basic questions about the phone records he used to make the chart jurors just saw, which displayed calls between #MichaelCohen & #RobertCostello.
Mangold confirms that Cohen & Costello actually spoke fewer than 75 times, based on the way these phone calls were recorded.
He recently testified before the #House#Judiciary Cmte, where he assailed Cohen’s credibility.
Costello also testified before the #GrandJury last year, in a last-ditch plea to the panel to not accept Cohen’s word. Which obviously didn’t work since the grand jury #indicted#Trump.
#RobertCostello wasn’t a potential witness in this #TrumpTrial until recently. Prosecutors are objecting to the scope of the questions the defense lawyers want to ask him about #MichaelCohen’s credibility.
Justice #Merchan sounds frustrated that this wasn’t worked out beforehand, which falls on the defense, not the prosecutors.
Prosecutors point out that #MichaelCohen testified that he didn’t tell Costello the truth.
Bove argues “there’s no mystery” about why Costello should testify — he will contradict Cohen’s recollections of conversations the 2 men had in 2018 (remember there is audio).
Justice Merchan sounds disinclined to allowing much of Costello’s testimony.
The testimony of another witness on the defense's witness list — who seems unlikely to testify — was litigated extensively. But Justice #Merchan is now being asked to rule on the spot whether & how #RobertCostello can testify.
Not having time to consider such decisions could increase the chances that he will make an appealable mistake. The defense is putting a lot of pressure on the judge by introducing a witness who was not on their original witness list.
Justice #Merchan says he will take 5 mins to decide. “Don’t leave the courtroom,” he says, frustrated.
Merchan returns & tells #Trump defense atty Emil #Bove that he will give him some latitude to explore the pressure campaign that #MichaelCohen said #RobertCostello waged during the summer of 2018. But Merchan adds: “I’m not going to allow this to become a trial within the trial” of Michael Cohen.
Costello currently works at a law firm run by one of New York City’s most prominent lobbyists.
Costello describes #MichaelCohen as “absolutely manic” during their first meeting at the Loews Regency hotel on Park Ave in 2018, after his hotel room & office were searched by the FBI.
Costello testifies that Cohen told him then, w/ federal investigators breathing down his neck, that “my life is shattered.”
#RobertCostello testifies that #MichaelCohen then asked, “What's my escape route?” adding that he had told Cohen then that he could cooperate w/the govt.
“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Costello recalls Cohen telling him. As prosecutors just pointed out — w/the #jury out of the room — Cohen testified that he lied to Costello at this point about the #StormyDaniels payment.
#RobertCostello shakes his head in apparent frustration w/ Justice #Merchan after Merchan sustains several objections by prosecutors. (Not a good look for jurors)
When Justice Merchan sustains yet another objection, he gets visibly irritated.
#Trump also shakes his head when the lawyers approach the bench for another sidebar.
He testifies that w/respect to #StormyDaniels, Cohen said “numerous times” that #Trump “knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own.”
Prosecutor #Hoffinger objects to many of Emil #Bove's questions, often being sustained by #Merchan.
Costello is ignoring the judge’s rulings, so Justice Merchan warned him directly to wait for a ruling before answering.
Before the press left, Justice #Merchan was lecturing #RobertCostello. “I want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom, you don't give me side eye & you don't roll your eyes." he said. “If you don't like my ruling, you dont say 'jeez,' & you don’t say 'strike it,' because I’m the only one who can strike testimony in court.”
Court resumes, press is allowed back in, & the jurors are called back, totally unaware of the lecture & the clearing of the courtroom.