Tues 29 May 2024 🧵
Good morning! It’s the last day of the #TrumpTrial before jury #deliberations.
Today Justice #Merchan will give #JuryInstructions. Then they will discuss the case among themselves for the first time; they have not been allowed to even discuss it w/each other as yet.
Closing arguments took place yesterday, & the lawyers will have no further opportunity to address the jurors before they determine whether #Trump is #guilty or not guilty of 34 felonies.
#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.
Justice #Merchan calls in the #jury & instructs them that #Blanche’s comment about sending #Trump “to prison” was “improper” & that they must disregard it. He reminds them that a #prison sentence is NOT required in the event of a #guilty#verdict.
#Blanche argues that if #StormyDaniels's allegations were so scary to the #Trump campaign, why didn’t it swing into action in April 2016, when a woman working w/ Daniels got in touch w/The #NationalEnquirer's parent company?
“You almost have to laugh at the way Mr. #Blanche explained it to you,” he says. “They would have destroyed evidence — committed another crime — to hide this crime, but because they didn’t do that, & these documents exist” that’s evidence that there was no crime.
Steinglass shows Trump’s filing w/the federal government’s Office of Government #Ethics in May 2018 that revealed #Trump had made a payment to #MichaelCohen. The filing came days after #RudyGiuliani said on #FoxNews that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the #StormyDaniels payment.
Before he concluded, #Blanche asked that #jurors not send his client to #prison. Now, w/the jury excused, Joshua #Steinglass, who will give prosecution’s closing argument, stands up & objects.
“That was a blatant & wholly inappropriate effort to call sympathy for their client,” Steinglass says, asking for a curative instruction.
Justice #Merchan is excoriating Blanche for making an “outrageous” statement.
Justice #Merchan, furious, reminds #Blanche, & not for the first time, that he was a prosecutor long enough to know it was out of bounds for him to basically beg jurors not to send #Trump to #prison.
Merchan told the court that he plans to give jurors a curative instruction — in other words, general direction that is aimed at clearing up an erroneous statement.
Testimony started w/a bang last week as David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, said that he had entered into a secret plot w/ #Trump & #MichaelCohen to #CatchAndKill negative stories about Trump as he ran for president in 2016. #GaryFarro, the 3rd to testify, started off w/dry details about banking transactions. But #Farro is leading us to the #HushMoney payment
#KeithDavidson says that when he talked to #MichaelCohen, he was met w/a “hostile barrage” of “insults,” “insinuations” & “allegations” & that went on for quite a while.
#Trump’s lead defense lawyer, Todd #Blanche, is delighted as Davidson describes Michael Cohen screaming expletives at him. Blanche laughs & smiles at Trump, who is seated next to him. Blanche has been very focused on destroying Cohen’s credibility with the jury.
Among the issues that Todd #Blanche brings up as he calls for a #mistrial is #StormyDaniels’s testimony that #Trump didn’t wear a condom. He argues that this testimony was deeply #prejudicial to his client — & asked what the jury is supposed to do w/ much of the info they received from Daniels’ testimony.
Prosecutor #Hoffinger argues that Daniels's story is important for #motive (as said) & #intent, to illustrate what Trump didn’t want the public to know before the election.
"Testimony was so unduly prejudicial to Trump & the charges in this case..."
Trump atty #Blanche argues that the testimony was overly #prejudicial, & that the State was asking questions “to inflame this jury,” in addition to the “pure embarrassment” factor. He says there’s no way the court can instruct the #jury in a way to “unring this bell.”
#StormyDaniels is now being asked about a statement she signed denying having had an affair w/ #Trump, given to her by her lawyer & dated 10 Jan, 2018. This is the same statement that Trump recently posted on Truth Social had been "JUST FOUND."
#Blanche was unable to defend the post last week in the contempt hearing related to Trump's #GagOrder. The statement clearly had not just been found.
Daniels makes it clear that she didn’t want to sign the statement, & that it wasn’t true.
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 asks about negotiations he had w/ ABC News reporter John Santucci regarding the #StormyDaniels story.
Blanche is restating his opening argument point that NDAs were typical among the wealthy & famous & that they were not illegal. (No one has said otherwise)
#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 concludes cross-examination of #MichaelCohen w/ a whimper not a bang. He tries to remind jurors of the most dramatic moment from Thursday's cross: that Cohen may have lied on the stand when he described a conversation on Trump's bodyguard's phone in which he said he briefed #Trump about the payment to #StormyDaniels.
There was “no doubt in your mind” that that was the purpose of the call, Blanche asks. “No doubt,” Cohen replies, standing by his testimony.
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.
#Merchan repeatedly pushed #Blanche to clarify, only to have Blanche deny he said what he said. #Trump was lucky #jurors weren’t there.
"You've presented nothing," Merchan said to Blanche, & that was after he’d been presenting his argument for ~20 mins.
Trump grew more animated when Merchan pushed back on Blanche.
Several occasions when the judge was speaking, Trump turned to his other lawyers at the defense table & whispered to them.
When #Blanche said #Trump is trying to follow the rules, Merchan interrupted, "You're losing all credibility with the court.” (Yikes, it’s really lucky for Trump jurors weren’t there)
Blanche is in jeopardy of ruining his relationship w/ Merchan at the very start of the trial.
Merchan all but pleaded w/Blanche to make a more substantive argument, "I hate to keep coming back to this, but you’re not offering anything to support your argument.”
#Pecker said he didn't know what the meeting was about before he arrived. When he got there, #MichaelCohen & #Trump asked him what he & his magazines could do "to help the campaign.”
That quote goes directly to the argument that the #HushMoney payments were made to help Trump win.
In #Blanche’s opening, he said Trump's dealings w/Pecker were regular practice in #journalism.
But a #political#candidate flat-out asking a publisher "to help the campaign" is NOT NORMAL.
While court was on break, #Trump complained about the #GagOrder on TruthSocial. In all-caps he accused Justice #Merchan of taking away his "right to free speech" & claimed that he was "not allowed to defend myself."
[🤬]
Trump, already dealing w/the repercussions of the hearing when he returned to the courtroom, reporters asked him whether he thought #Blanche had any credibility & if he was happy w/his performance.
He didn't respond.
The judge loses patience w/ #Blanche, "I'm asking the questions, OK," he says. "Im going to decide whether your client is in #contempt or not, so please don't turn it around." Blanche says in a higher-pitched voice that the prosecutors got as much time as they want.
Justice #Merchan makes a distinction, saying the prosecutors were answering his questions.
During the scold, #Trump turned to another one of his lawyers, Emil Bove, & whispered a comment.
"In 1876, at the age of 27, she desired to marry an older lawyer who was not to her mother's liking; she argued that her daughter could not marry a "penniless lawyer".[4] Her disapproving mother, angered by her daughter's defiance, locked her in a tiny, dark room in the attic of their home, where she kept her secluded for 25...
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.
#Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers, is now asking the judge about #MichaelCohen, Blanche says he has continued to attack #Trump on the social media platform TikTok. Blanche asks the judge to order prosecutors to instruct Cohen to stop talking until the trial is over.
#Steinglass, a prosecutor, says they have repeatedly asked witnesses, including Cohen, to remain silent but have little control over them.
#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.
#Blanche questions #MichaelCohen about his testimony to federal prosecutors in 2017 concerning his discussions w/ #Trump about a possible Trump Tower in #Russia.
Blanche gets Cohen to admit that he lied to federal prosecutors about Trump’s Moscow project. But doesn’t make it clear what exactly the lie was, so not sure what Blanche gained in the exchange.
#Blanche gets to his point: that #MichaelCohen says he doesn't "recall" having had multiple conversations w/the DA's office about not going on TV, but he can recall w/pristine detail conversations he said he had w/ #Trump in 2016.
"I remember all the phone conversations w/Mr. Trump at the time, yes," Cohen says.
FYI, Cohen is under no obligation to “recall” anything. He is not on trial.
TIL about Blanche Monnier, a French woman who was kept locked in a small room for 25 years after she tried marrying someone her mother didn't like. She laid there in her own excrement, starving, for over 2 decades. (en.wikipedia.org)
"In 1876, at the age of 27, she desired to marry an older lawyer who was not to her mother's liking; she argued that her daughter could not marry a "penniless lawyer".[4] Her disapproving mother, angered by her daughter's defiance, locked her in a tiny, dark room in the attic of their home, where she kept her secluded for 25...