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.
The male juror prepares to take the computer & the paralegal seems hesitant. “He can take it,” Justice #Merchan says. The 2 jurors leave the room.
All the trial exhibits are on that laptop, which could help speed up the #deliberations: the jurors will not have to request specific documentary #evidence they wish to review. Nor will they have to view it in the courtroom, which takes time to setup.
#Trump has posted >20X on Truth Social since he left the courtroom. Each post quotes [right wing, Trump sycophant] commentators or legal scholars making a statement that supports him or criticizes the case.
He cannot leave the courtHOUSE while the #jury is deliberating, Justice #Merchan informs him.
Outside the courtroom Trump spews a bunch of inciting lies attacking the justice system, democracy, the country, the judge… his basic “I’m a victim” BS.
#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.
Also there’s #Exhibit36, in which #JeffMcConney describes in McConney’s own handwritten notes based on a conversation he had w/ #AllenWeisselberg. He testified #Exhibit35 contains on the left-hand side, Allen Weisselberg’s handwriting. McConney said, I know it’s his handwriting because I’ve worked w/him for 35 yrs.
#Steinglass discusses Jan 2017, the month #Trump was inaugurated. He describes a meeting between #MichaelCohen & #AllenWeisselberg who Cohen testified had made the arrangements to reimburse Cohen for the #HushMoney. “Right on the bank statement, Weisselberg & Cohen calculated all the money that was owed to Cohen,” Steinglass says.
If that logic held, no charge of falsifying business records would ever be successful because “The existence of the false business record in the first place would prove there was no intent to defraud.” Then, #Steinglass asks, concluding his point, “doesn’t that seem a little bit circular to you?”
#Steinglass asks #jurors to remember that “we didn’t choose #MichaelCohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store.” Then he raises his voice & says that #Trump chose Cohen “for the same qualities that his attorneys now urge you to reject his testimony because of.”
Steinglass adds that Trump chose Cohen “because he was willing to lie & cheat on Mr. Trump’s behalf.”
#Steinglass starts a timer & pretends to have the exact same conversation, he adds a bunch of asides & silences. He plays the role of Cohen, talking first to #KeithSchiller & then to #Trump.
The call feels loooong. When Steinglass stops the timer, it’s only been ~49 secs, about as long as the call in question.
The point: #MichaelCohen could have easily talked to both men, as he testified.
Heading into what may be the final week of the #TrumpTrial, here are links to my threads for each day of coverage starting w/opening statements & then testimony (excludes jury selection)
#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.
#MichaelCohen again testifies that the documents were false.
Cohen explains why he didn’t sign a retainer agreement or agree to pay #RobertCostello:
“I didn’t trust him,” he says, explaining that he thought everything he said to Costello would immediately make its way back to #Trump.
Cohen testifies that he signed a waiver in 2019 to talk to the #SDNY about Costello, & he is shown the waiver.
Hoffinger gets under Costello’s skin quickly. “The email speaks for itself,” he keeps saying when asked about an email exchange between his law partner & Cohen.
Costello is now scolding Hoffinger for getting his past title wrong. (This guy is a shit show)
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)
Here’s a fun idea for the media covering the #hushmoney trial. Next time Trump leaves the courtroom prepared to serve up his bowl of lies don’t show up. No reporters, no cameras… just an empty hallway.
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
The #verdict must be unanimous on the primary crime falsification of business records.
Once #jurors inform the court they have reached a verdict, Justice Juan #Merchan will summon the parties to the courtroom to hear it read by the foreperson.
Merchan must still affirm the verdict & enter a final judgment.
#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 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.
#MichaelCohen testifies that it was his understanding that #Trump wanted him to refrain from cooperating w/the government — you know the one he was in charge of — & “certainly not to provide information or flip.”