#MichaelCohen says he had >30k contacts in his phone.
Cohen explains that part of the reason there were so many is because Trump had his own contacts synced onto Cohen's phone for ease.
Cohen describes his relationship w/ David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, & the 1st witness at this trial. Pecker testified that he, Cohen & #Trump entered into a secret plan to suppress negative stories about Trump in 2015.
#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.
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 texts show that reps for The Enquirer & Rodriguez were in conversation for months about Daniels’s story. This suggests that The Enquirer was monitoring the story, as its publisher, David #Pecker, said he had promised #Trump he’d do.
The testimony by #StormyDaniels that she did not care about money might be undercut by text messages between her agent at the time, Gina Rodriguez, & the editor of The #NationalEnquirer, w/ the 2 of them bidding back & forth until they got to $120k. The Enquirer’s publisher David #Pecker would not pay saying, “I am not a bank.” Which is how #MichaelCohen ended up taking over the deal.
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.
Regarding #Trump’s comments about David #Pecker being nice, prosecutor Conroy argued it was a threat to other witnesses “be nice or else face attacks” not sure that will work. Conroy called Trump’s statements as “air of menace” I agree, but if we’re supposed to infer for a #GagOrder that gets a little tricky.
👀 On the recording, #MichaelCohen is talking to #Trump, it sounds like #HopeHicks in the background. Cohen is explaining they had just gotten served by The NYT to unseal records from Trump’s first divorce, from Ivana Trump.
At the end of the tape, Cohen tells Trump,
“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David.”
The [#NationalEnquirer’s David #Pecker]
#HopeHicks is testifying in detail how #Trump praised David #Pecker, then the publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, after the tabloid ran a story saying one of his #GOP presidential rivals, Dr. Ben Carson, had left a sponge in a young girl’s brain. “Mr. Trump was congratulating him on the great reporting,” she recalls. “This is Pulitzer-worthy,” Hicks says she recalls him saying.
#HopeHicks was Trump's WH communications director when #KarenMcDougal sued to be released from her #AMI contract that barred her from speaking about her relationship w/ #Trump.
Hicks testifies Westerhout, Trump's exec asst, texted her, "Hey - the president wants to know if you called David #Pecker again?"
She adds that when she spoke to Trump after McDougal was interviewed on CNN by Anderson Cooper, she didn’t “recall him mentioning Mr. Pecker in those conversations."
#Bove builds on the #MichaelCohen was freelancing angle, he gets #HopeHicks to agree that Cohen "went rogue" & did things that were “unauthorized."
Hicks helps the defense out by saying, "He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix-it, & it was only because he first broke it."
Bove, moves on to when Hicks worked on #Trump's 1st campaign saying the work she did for Trump, & the work done by #Pecker, ( #NationalEnquirer) was all standard operating procedure for a candidate.
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
#Bove asks, “You knew that to consummate that deal, you had to finalize the investigations, correct?”
#Pecker admits that put some pressure on the negotiations, but says, “From the tabloid's standpoint, that would have added on to the stress of the transaction.” He doesn’t say it put personal pressure on him.
Pecker says, “There was no drop dead date, that it had to be completed by a certain time.”
#Bove points out the section of the non-prosecution agreement stating the federal govt "will not criminally prosecute" #AMI.
Asked whether there's mention of a #CampaignFinancial violation in the agreement, #Pecker answers, “No."
Bove tries to get Pecker to say money wasn’t part of the #Trump Tower meeting agreement.
Pecker corrects Bove, “There was a discussion that I was going to be the eyes and ears of the campaign," including notifying #MichaelCohen of women selling stories.
#Bove has been trying to get him to admit that his testimony contradicted what his attys told the state in 2019. The statement in question concerns the Trump Tower meeting in 2015, in which Pecker agreed to help #CatchAndKill negative stories about #Trump.
Bove said Pecker’s lawyer had told state prosecutors that it was inaccurate that Pecker had agreed, at that meeting, to suppress the stories on Trump's behalf.
But #Pecker clarifies that what his lawyer said in 2019 was simply that he had never offered to buy those stories on #Trump’s behalf. As Pecker reminds us, he instead offered to serve as Trump’s eyes & ears, looking out for negative stories.
Several times now #Bove has tried to catch Pecker in a lie. But Pecker is not going along w/it, he is repeatedly disagreeing w/Bove & fighting back against the attacks. It’s hurting defense more than helping.
“All that base loved reading positive stories about Donald Trump. And when he announced his presidency, going from The Apprentice to running for the president of the United States, our sales increased. Newsstand sales increased,”Pecker says.
Steinglass sums it up as follows, “Running stories about Mr. Trump appealed to your readership.”
#Pecker will be back on the stand when court resumes.
Before leaving, Todd #Blanche, one of Trump's attys, asked Justice #Merchan to direct prosecutors to say who the next #witness would be. One of the prosecutors responded that Susan Necheles, another #Trump lawyer, already knew. Trump leaned over & asked Necheles, “Who is it?” She seems to have responded because he said, “Ah.” Then he got up.