#TrumpTrial started earlier than I did today. Grabbing coffee, starting THREAD HERE🧵1/… #Trump#legal
Here’s the list of Trump’s allies attending his trial today:
AG Alan Wilson
Rep. Eric Burlison
Rep. Andrew Clyde
Rep. Mary Miller
Rep. Keith Self
John Coale
Alan Dershowitz
Will Scharf
Steve Witkoff
Bernie Kerik
Kash Patel
Vernon Jones
Jerry Kassar
Chuck Zito
#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.
Justice #Merchan says that it’s become apparent that closings will not take place tomorrow. It’s looking more like #evidence, #testimony & all other business before closings will happen this week & closing arguments will take place next Tues.
“It was either have a long break now or have a long break then, & unfortunately the calendar is what it is,” the judge says, re the Memorial Day weekend.
The new #TrumpTrial schedule provides the #jury w/less of an interruption between closeting arguments & deliberations, allowing jurors to hear the defense & prosecution summations, the judge’s legal instructions, & then begin their deliberations w/it all fresh in mind.
#Hoffinger, one of the prosecutors, is addressing some exhibits that #Trump defense wants to enter into #evidence. One relates to comms between #MichaelCohen & his lawyer, Jeff Citron, about another lawyer, Bob Costello.
The lawyers have begun to argue over whether the defense can use #evidence that was not previously a part of the trial. Justice #Merchan has barred one potential email, related to #MichaelCohen & #RobertCostello, a lawyer who spoke w/Cohen in 2018, as he was beginning to question his relationship w/ #Trump. Costello, a fmr fed prosecutor, became a character late in the trial, but he’s come up a lot in the last few days.
Justice #Merchan says he is still deciding on #JuryInstructions. Both the prosecutors & the defense have submitted proposals for what they would like. He makes it clear that he has not decided what he will do.
Merchan made 2 minor rulings against the defense. Both times defense lawyers pushed back, seeking another chance to enter new #evidence (#delay), + clarity on jury instructions to inform the testimony of their expert witness.
#Trump defense atty Emil #Bove suggests that the prosecutors, in their proposed #JuryInstructions, shifted their theory of the case.
He’s possibly talking about the state #ElectionLaw that underlies the #felony business records charges against Trump. Justice #Merchan doesn’t seem to agree, but says prosecution’s proposal for jury instructions holds no weight — it’s only a proposal.
“Just relax,” Merchan tells defense. Nothing, he says, has been determined.
Prosecutor #Colangelo argues “there’s nothing new at all” about their theory. The charges against #Trump are #felonies because he falsified business records to conceal another #crime. They signaled that other crime was seeking to promote his own #election "by unlawful means," in violation of state #ElectionLaw. That introduces a 3rd potential crime.
3 potential crimes, all wrapped into each of the 34 felony charges of falsifying business records.