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.
#Blanche asked #MichaelCohen about a number of different events, including an exchange of public statements w/ Michael #Avenatti, one of #StormyDaniels's lawyers, & conversations w/his wife. He ended by asking Cohen if he had deleted his communications w/his wife around that time, & Cohen seemed genuinely stumped. Then Blanche asks if Cohen, around this time, had taken to deleting his texts more generally.
#StormyDaniels testifies that her lawyer, Michael #Avenatti, filed a #defamation claim against #Trump against her wishes. She says she wished he had not done so because she felt it was too risky. (Avenatti, a risk-taker by nature, was sentenced to prison in 2022 for stealing from Daniels.)
Per Jonathon Swan: As Daniels was testifying about her defamation claim against Trump, the former president appeared for a while to be solidly asleep. #NodFarter
#StormyDaniels testifies that she hired Michael #Avenatti after hearing #MichaelCohen talk about the story in public which was upsetting, “because he could talk about it & I couldn’t.”
She then testifies that Cohen filed a temporary restraining order against her, seeking to keep her from speaking.
Daniels says she hired Avenatti to “speak up" for herself, appeared on CNN to get her story out.
charges are falsifying business records to hide #HushMoney payments in lead up to 2016 election to #influence electorate
just one Trump supporter at the courthouse draped in a Trump flag.
#StormyDaniels's lawyer, #KeithDavidson, to return to stand. He negotiated the hush-money payment at the center of the case, & is expected to lay out details of the deal.
Prosecutors in Trump’s #criminal trial say he has violated a #GagOrder barring him from attacking #witnesses, #jurors & others close to the case. Testimony is set to resume later Tuesday morning.
#Blanche says that a post from Michael #Avenatti, which caused #Trump to launch into an attack on StormyDaniels & MichaelCohen, was a political argument, about speech not in the case but on social media & in interviews.
I guess, Blanche is saying, Trump's response is not an attack on #witnesses but a continuation of a political discussion.
The #legal & #political strategies by the Trump #law team have always been intertwined.