🎶
Bravely bold Sir Donald
Rode forth from ScamAlot
He was not afraid to lie,
Oh brave Sir Donald
He was not at all afraid
To be grilled in nasty ways
Brave, brave, brave
brave Sir Donald
🎶
For he was not
in the least bit scared
To be mashed into a pulp
Or to have his eyes gouged out
and his elbows broken
To have his kneecaps split
and his body burned away
And his limbs
all hacked and mangled
Brave Sir Donald
🎶
Brave Sir Donald ran away
Bravely ran away away
When perjury reared
it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail
and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Donald
turned about
And gallantly he chickened out
Swiftly taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat
Bravest of the brave
Yesterday, Costello behaved so atrociously on the witness stand that Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom to admonish him & the defense attorneys. Costello is due back on the stand
#Hoffinger, in a brief, final series of questions & answers, again confirms that #RobertCostello was never officially hired as #MichaelCohen’s lawyer. Costello steps down from the witness stand.
Justice #Merchan turns to the #jury & explains the upcoming schedule. Closing arguments will take a day & his instructions to them afterward will take at least an hour.
Court will be adjourned, for jurors, until a week from today.
The judge reminds #jurors that they should not discuss the case or read the news about the trial in the meantime.
Court is adjourned until the afternoon when it’s expected that prosecutors & defense lawyers will srgue for their preferred versions of the #JuryInstructions during a “charging conference”.
Justice #Merchan may also rule on the defense lawyers' latest attempt to #dismiss the case, which they made in a motion yesterday.
Tues afternoon, the #TrumpTrial will go into some dry legalities, as prosecutors & defense present to Justice #Merchan how they want the court to instruct the #jurors as they deliberate.
The 2 sides will lay out their arguments for #JuryInstructions as it prepares to weigh the charges against #Trump — 34 #felony counts of falsifying business records.
#Jury instructions are meant to translate #legal doctrine into intelligible language for the 12 laypeople who will decide the case.
Justice #Merchan asks the defense to argue on behalf of one of its many requests: to add the word “willfully” in 2 places to the #JuryInstructions on a federal #ElectionLaw which isn’t charged.
Defense proposes #JuryInstructions on campaign finance law “#FECA” (federal election campaign act) must include the word "willfully" to specify a #criminal violation.
The 34 falsifying business records charges against #Trump are #felony charges bc prosecutors say he used the false records to try to conceal a 2nd #crime.
That 2nd crime, prosecutors specified, is a violation of a state #ElectionLaw that forbids a person from seeking election by “unlawful means.”
Defense & prosecution debate what types of #UnlawfulMeans apply. Defense asks for additions that to make it clear only #crimes should count, while prosecution suggests #civil violations should apply, too.
#Merchan rejects defense’s request to tell jurors that candidates weren’t limited in 2015 & 2016 — before #Trump's election —— from contributing funds to their own campaigns. Prosecution called it misleading & Merchan determined it was unnecessary to explain it to the jury.
Judge #Merchan says he’ll allow the defense to argue the issue on limits to individual’s contributions to their own campaign during their summation, but he won’t include it in his instructions.
Merchan reserves his final decision on the argument over the word “willfully.”
Defense argues the instructions should include the phrase “for the purpose of influencing an election” but that it should specify it’s in reference to spending related to the election.
#Trump atty #Bove agrees the sentence is an accurate recitation of the “irrespective rule” (found in #FECA’s § on personal use) but defense wants examples included for the jury from the #FEC’s prior application of the rule.
There’s a long back & forth about prosecutors’ proposal that the #JuryInstructions include language suggesting it was “reasonably forseeable” that false records would be created as a result of #Trump’s conduct.
Justice #Merchan says that he’s inclined NOT to include it.
— that is not good, it’s specific to #NY#law.
But he reserves judgment for now, as he did on “willfully.”
Justice Merchan points out that the #felony charges of falsifying business records #Trump faces includes an #intent to conceal another #crime. The #law doesn't require prosecutors to show that Trump intended to orchestrate a #conspiracy, but rather that by falsifying business records, he intended to hide said conspiracy.
#Merchan says he will leave that instruction as is – a win for prosecutors.
Prosecution & defense argue whether the evidence at trial supported the idea that #Trump did enter a conspiracy w/ #Pecker & #MichaelCohen in 2015 to suppress negative stories during his presidential campaign.
(isn’t that for the jury to decide?)
Defense suggests that there was nothing #criminal about “participating” in that meeting, & that meeting w/ The #NationalEnquirer was simply “standard operating procedure” for campaigning. (Um, no)
Defense argues that to reach a #guilty#verdict jurors MUST not only to agree #unanimously that #Trump had falsified records to conceal a #conspiracy to win an election by unlawful means, but also jurors must be unanimous on what the #UnlawfulMeans are; making reaching a verdict nearly impossible.
Trump's attys argued that while that unanimity is not required by #law, Justice Merchan can use his discretion in asking for it.
After a break, Justice #Merchan tells the attys that they've gone through his concerns about #JuryInstructions & asks prosecutors & defense about theirs.
Merchan denies defense’s ask for instruction that NDAs not being illegal (no shit), & notes there’s been plenty of testimony to that point & they can argue it on summation.
And there it is, #Merchan signifies he’s losing patience w/ Bove as he continues to argue a decided issue. Bove insists it’s important, & generously Merchan gives him another chance to speak. But now Merchan repeats his previous decisions on the issue above is harping on, namely that #MichaelCohen was #Trump’s atty when the charged conduct took place.
#Colangelo argues the instruction proposed about fmr #NationalEnquirer publisher #Pecker’s legal consult w/his attorney is irrelevant, because Pecker testified that he didn’t reveal all of the facts to AMI’s general counsel when he consulted them & therefore his attys couldn’t provide proper legal advice.
Bove argues that what matters is Pecker told Trump that he had been told the McDougal agreement was “bulletproof,” & Trump relied it.