#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.
#Steinglass now talks# about the 2nd of 3 hush-money deals, which involved #KarenMcDougal & was arranged by The #NationalEnquirer. He says that #Pecker & #DylanHoward of The Enquirer & #KeithDavidson, McDougal's lawyer, spoke in code. But you don’t have to be a codebreaker, he says, to understand what they were talking about
Steinglass also notes that the trio was communicating w/ #MichaelCohen, who testified that he had been charged w/keeping #Trump apprised of their progress
#Steinglass tells the jury that #Pecker was willing to sacrifice his bottom line in service of #Trump’s campaign, & adds that this deal was “the very antithesis of a normal legitimate press function.”
Steinglass shows through call records the degree to which Trump would have had knowledge of the discussions around acquiring #KarenMcDougal’s life rights. Cutting against Blanche’s portrayal of Trump as a dupe who people took advantage of.
#Pecker came off as a genteel & soft-spoken person who still loves #Trump. And he offered some of the most damaging testimony of the trial.
FYI: criminalizing what Pecker & parent co AMI were doing is not part of the charges.
Steinglass shows how their actions & practices went far beyond what reporters actually do. The details of Pecker’s testimony demonstrate that the aim was to help Trump’s candidacy.
#Steinglass, who had stuck to a chronological timeline, goes back to 2016 to connect #Trump to each element that prosecutors say is a #crime. He argues that David #Pecker corroborated the idea that #MichaelCohen had kept Trump up to date on the #HushMoney payments at every step. Cohen, Steinglass says, “is not some rogue actor here.”
Steinglass talks about the infamous tape of Trump & Micahel Cohen discussing the payment to #KarenMcDougal.
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.
Judge #Merchan says jury has a note w/ 4 requests. They just rang the courtroom.
3 of the requests relate to testimony from David #Pecker, the former publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, who prosecutors say was part of the #conspiracy to suppress negative news on #Trump’s behalf during the 2016 election. The other request relates to #MichaelCohen’s testimony.
The phone call #jurors asked for from David Pecker’s testimony was call he testified he had w/ #Trump during an investor meeting, in June 2016, during which Trump acknowledged that he knew #KarenMcDougal.
Jurors may also be looking at the part of the #TrumpTowerMeeting when #Pecker testified that he decided to not collect reimbursement from Trump for his #HushMoney deal w/ McDougal. The wording from the jurors is slightly unclear.
Yes, this just happened, court is still very much in session. Only the jury was dismissed.
There’s agreement on the jurors’ 1st, 2nd & 4th requests.
1st was #Pecker’s testimony about a call he had w/ #Trump in June 2016.
2nd was Pecker’s testimony on financial arrangements for #KarenMcDougal’s #HushMoney.
4th was #MichaelCohen’s testimony on the Aug 2015 #TrumpTowerMeeting w/ Pecker & Trump.
The only portion that is disputed involves Pecker's testimony about the same meeting.
Justice #Merchan is back on the bench. He asks the attys, “Where do we stand?”
Prosecutor #Steinglass says that while they have “made a lot of progress,” they need his help to sort out which portions of the #transcript should be read back to the #jury.
Jurors asked for 4 portions — 3 from #Pecker’s testimony & 1 from #MichaelCohen.
Defense & prosecution aren’t agreeing on Pecker's #TrumpTowerMeeting testimony.
Court has now adjourned for the day. Justice #Merchan did not determine exactly which portions of the transcript related to #Pecker’s testimony woll be read aloud to the #jury.
We’ll find out tomorrow morning.
Prosecutors believe the readback should include the part of Pecker’s #testimony about directing #DylanHoward to notify other employees of The #NationalEnquirer they should bring any stories about #Trump to him. #Pecker also testified that he told Howard that the Enquirer employees would have to speak to #MichaelCohen about the arrangement.
Justice Merchan notes that in the same section Pecker testified he told Howard to keep it secret — goes to #intent to #defraud.
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.
Justice #Merchan is done, & now the court reporter will read the #testimony. 2 court reporters will read. The first explains that she is the “lawyer” & that her colleague, on the witness stand is “David Pecker.” They start w/ testimony pertaining to a phone call that #Pecker & #Trump had in June 2016, acc/to Pecker’s testimony.
Cohen’s testimony matches Pecker’s account closely. #Pecker testified that he had said he would be #Trump’s “eyes & ears” & watch out for negative stories. Cohen recalls him saying he would “keep an eye out for anything negative.”
Testimony readbacks can highlight moments that were seemingly rushed by during trial.
Here, we see that it was very important for the defense for #Bove to call #Pecker’s memory about this meeting into question.
Also the importance of objections becomes very apparent. Any objection that was sustained by the judge — & several were in this cross of Pecker — is not read aloud as the jury considers a potential verdict.
#Pecker testified on cross-examination that the phrase “#CatchAndKill” was not used at the Aug 2015 #TrumpTowerMeeting — & that there was no financial agreement made in concert w/the plan for him to supress negative stories about #Trump AT THAT MEETING.
The defense has argued that both of those data points should cast doubt on the prosecution’s theory.
#Pecker testified that he recommended that #Trump buy #KarenMcDougal’s story. The portion of #testimony ends before the #jury hears what comes next. Pecker testified that #MichaelCohen called him back & told him to buy McDougal’s story on Trump's behalf.
Jurors heard the portion of Pecker's testimony when he said he believed the story of Trump having had an affair w/McDougal was true, & would be embarrassing to Trump.
David #Pecker testified that #Trump acknowledged speaking to #MichaelCohen about the issue & acknowledged knowing #KarenMcDougal, one of the women who was eventually paid to keep quiet during the 2016 campaign about her story of having had an affair w/ Trump.
“Karen is a nice girl,” Trump said on this call, according to Pecker’s testimony.
Next the court reporters read the second part of David #Pecker’s #testimony that the #jurors asked to hear, where he explains that he decided he did not want to be repaid for #KarenMcDougal’s story after purchasing it. The implication was that he was concerned about the #legal consequences of accepting a reimbursement - he testified that the concern was regarding FEC violations.
#Jurors hear #Pecker recall that after he said he wasn’t going to go thru w/the agreement w/ #MichaelCohen, who was to pay him for the rights to #KarenMcDougal’s story using an LLC, Cohen told him: “The boss is going to be very angry at you.”
Court reporters read the 3rd portion of Pecker’s testimony. This part pertains to the Aug 2015 #TrumpTowerMeeting in which Pecker, Michael Cohen & #Trump entered a #conspiracy to suppress negative news about Trump during the #2016election.
#Pecker’s #testimony here is key to prosecution's case. Jurors also asked to hear MichaelCohen’s testimony about the #TrumpTowerMeeting. They will hear that next.
One of the major arguments the defense made during closings also pertained to this meeting, & concerned the idea that the phrase #CatchAndKill was not used during it.
(It’s not used in the charges either. It’s just a characterization not a legal term.)
The #jurors just again heard #Pecker’s #testimony that the reason he was purchasing negative stories on #Trump’s behalf was to benefit his presidential campaign.
Defense atty Emil #Bove cross-examined Pecker, & jurors are hearing part of that cross now. Bove elicited testimony that Pecker misremembered the exact date of the Aug 2015 meeting, & more generally that Pecker was testifying about events from a long time ago.
The end of the cross-examination of #Pecker was less good for the defense. It was just read aloud again. “There was a discussion about that I was going to be the eyes and ears of the campaign,” Pecker testified. “And there was a discussion that I would be notifying Michael Cohen of any women that were in the process of or going to be selling stories.”
#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.
As #MichaelCohen repeats that he worked w/David #Pecker & others at his company to do so, he again repeats that he took action at #Trump’s direction. The prosecutors use that testimony to lead into Cohen’s #guilty pleas in the federal case against him in 2018. Some of the charges against him were related to the #HushMoney payment.
Cohen testifies he continued to deal w/ #StormyDaniels in early 2018 w/Trump’s backing & blessing. He says that the president asked him to get a temporary restraining order against Daniels.