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 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.
He testifies that w/respect to #StormyDaniels, Cohen said “numerous times” that #Trump “knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own.”
Prosecutor #Hoffinger objects to many of Emil #Bove's questions, often being sustained by #Merchan.
Costello is ignoring the judge’s rulings, so Justice Merchan warned him directly to wait for a ruling before answering.
#Hoffinger goes back to how #MichaelCohen was treated by the #Trump team. A complicating factor w/both Cohen & #StormyDaniels is they have multiple motives, & prosecutors have been telling the cleanest versions of their stories which makes it easy for the defense to pick at. However, the Trump team is essentially asking the #jury to believe everyone around Trump was acting shadily except for the shadiest of all – Trump.
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)
The language in these Cohen conversations is coded & very mob-like. The #HushMoney is described as a "business opportunity."
#MichaelCohen says that #Trump, upon learning that #StormyDaniels was shopping her story, was very angry w/Cohen, calling it a "total disaster" & saying "women are going to hate me." Cohen says he responded that he had no control over Daniels's story.
The prosecution asks that the defense be precluded from asking #StormyDaniels whether she was arrested. Justice #Merchan agrees w/the prosecutors, saying that “anybody can be arrested” & that it “doesn’t prove anything.”
The people call Stormy Daniels back to the stand
#Trump atty #Necheles begins questioning by saying that in 2011, Daniels denied having had sex w/Trump.
#Necheles now brings up something inevitable: #StormyDaniels's work as a medium. "You've made a show & a podcast claiming you can speak w/ dead people, right?"
So now Necheles is trying to make Daniels look crazy by bringing up her beliefs in the paranormal & communicating w/dead people.
Keeping score, Necheles has tried to discredit Daniels by suggesting she is
#Necheles is trying to make #StormyDaniels look like a liar. But many of her questions have to do w/money & Daniels is making it clear that she is not wealthy. So instead of this line of questioning working to impeach her #credibility, as intended, it’s coming off as a lawyer for a very rich person going after someone w/ less money for having less money.
Yes #Trump has exaggerated his wealth for the years, but he still has more money than the vast majority of the country.
#StormyDaniels knocked back Necheles’s implication that Daniels wants Trump to be convicted so she doesn’t have to pay his legal fees from the defamation case. “I hope I don't have to pay him no matter what happens,” Daniels said.
Necheles moves on, saying that telling her story about having had sex w/ Trump has made Stormy Daniels a lot of money. Daniels again hits back: “It has also cost me a lot of money.”
Justice #Merchan says that, w/the consent of the defense lawyers, Susan #Hoffinger, the prosecutor, has stepped out to confer w/ #StormyDaniels about keeping her #testimony within the confines set by the judge, & avoiding any “unnecessary” details. [to avoid a fricking mistrial ffs]
Note, when the judge in Trump’s civil fraud trial denied a mistrial, #Trump stormed out of the room.
We could see a #GagOrder violation today if he follows his typical behavior.
#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.
It will be the 1st time #Trump & #StormyDaniels see each other face to face since her accusations. He denies they had sex. Daniels has spoken about him & his body in a pretty let’s go w/ “candid” way.
In her book Full Disclosure she wrote that whenever she saw him on TV for years she’d think:
Necheles repeats the accusation: “That’s what you did, right?”
Daniels almost yells: “False!”
The defense has been building to this since Emil #Bove, accused Daniels’s lawyer, #KeithDavidson, of being a serial extorter of celebrities on behalf of other clients.
It would be a surprise for Justice #Merchan to agree to a #mistrial. But he also exhibited displeasure w/how the testimony was going several times, sustaining multiple objections.
It’s not #StormyDaniels’ fault or prosecutors fault that this was a salacious event, it’s just what happened & goes directly to motive for hiding it.
Jurors are seeing the infamous photo of #StormyDaniels & #Trump at the golf tourn.
Daniels says that she was approached by “Keith,” [Keith Schiller] Trump’s bodyguard who asked her to dinner. She says he took her number, though she refused the invitation.
Daniels says her initial reaction to Trump’s invitation was, “Fuck No!”
After she rejected Trump’s dinner request, her publicist told her to accept saying it'll be a great story, & what could possibly go wrong.
Merchan: “l agree there were some things that would have been better left unsaid.”
Defense moves to strike certain parts of #StormyDaniels testimony
Granted
Merchan says, “the witness was a little difficult to control” but he doesn’t let defense entirely off the hook saying part of their responsibility is to object DURING questioning/testimony
They want a mistrial. That’s why they let it all go & Merchan was the one forced to lodge objections.
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.
The jury is not present for these procedural motion hearings. It would be better if they knew Justice Merchan’s ruling & admonition to #Trump#legal team. given that they were present when #Merchan admonished #StormyDaniels & prosecution during the morning #testimony.
Merchan reminds the defense that “the remedy is on cross-examination,” meaning that the defense will be able to make its own case as it questions Daniels.
#Necheles, is seeking to attack #StormyDaniels's overall credibility. But Daniels told a very detailed story earlier about the not exactly consensual sexual encounter w/ #Trump, we’ll see how the #jurors process these attacks. It may very well backfire on the Trump team.
#Necheles has hardly asked about the actual case — whether there was a #conspiracy to cover up a #HushMoney payment made before an election, & if business records were falsified in the process. Instead she has focused on whether Daniels embellished her story about being threatened in Vegas by someone connected to #Trump.
“I find you in #criminal#contempt for the 10th time,” said Justice Juan #Merchan, who said he is concerned that Donald #Trump has apparently not taken heed of his prior findings.
“Going forward, this court will have to consider a #jail sentence. The last thing I want to do is put you in jail.”
Alright, who’s ready to see #Trump get his just deserts? He fucked up the whole damn world & that’s not an overstatement.
PS #BabySquirrel & I had a lovely weekend. It’s as boy! (He’s developed discernible - stuff)
He is doing quite well! Name: “Ramone” because he’s a sweet little punk rocker.
#Trump’s #criminal trial for falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential campaign to hide an extramarital affair that occurred while his 4th(?) wife was pregnant from his majority #evangelical#Christian#electorate; to that end he arranged an illegal & financially fraudulent #HushMoney pay-off to the adult-film actress #StormyDaniels.
Once the prosecutor & Trump’s #legal team have outlined their cases to the jury, the 1st witnesses will be called.