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.
Trump is charged w/ 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the coverup of a $130k #HushMoney payment that was made to the porn star #StormyDaniels in the days leading up to the #2016election.
All of the charges are class E felonies, or the lowest category of felony in #NewYork State.
Justice #Merchan would likely hand down #Trump’s sentence several weeks after the #guilty#verdict. But it’s possible that any punishment could be delayed.
Trump… will undoubtedly #appeal any #conviction, a lengthy process that could take months or longer & would likely not be resolved before Election Day. In that case, he would likely remain free until the appeal is resolved.
Last night on social media site, #Trump criticized the length of prosecutors’ closing argument, which lasted ~5hrs, describing it as a “filibuster,” even though there is no such thing in court. He also complained that he did not get a chance to respond to it, which is not how #ClosingArguments work & prosecution is always last in #NY court.
This morning, he again went after Justice #Merchan, who he falsely claims is biased against him.
As usual, #Trump has been quite active on his social media. Since court ended last night, he falsely claimed that prosecutors had introduced new “lies” about him during their closing arguments (you cannot introduce anything NEW in summation) & described #MichaelCohen, w/o specifically naming him, as “the bum that got caught stealing from me.”
#Trump entered court, today he is accompanied by his son Donald Trump Jr., his friend Steve Witkoff, his aides Natalie Harp & Karoline Leavitt, & his indicted legal adviser Boris Epshteyn. Eric Trump is not here today. Trump's aides Jason Miller & Steven Cheung are at the back of the room.
In #NewYork, falsifying records is a #misdemeanor, unless the documents were faked to HIDE ANOTHER CRIME. The other crime, prosecutors say (they also presented evidence of other #crimes), was Trump’s 2016 violation of state #ElectionLaw that prohibited #conspiring to aid a #political campaign using “#UnlawfulMeans.”
Because the #UnlawfulMeans could be any or all of the other crimes, each individual false-records charge that #Trump faces contains w/in it multiple possible crimes for jurors to adjudicate, & #law for Justice Merchan to explain.
Justice #Merchan reminds the #jurors they need to “set aside” personal opinions or bias against #Trump.
He reads standard #legal language on #fairness, one phrase: “As a juror, you are asked to make a very important decision about another member of the community.”
An unintentional reminder that this is #CitizenTrump — just “another member of the community.”
#Merchan says that #jurors can draw inferences while evaluating the #evidence during deliberations. To explain the concept of an inference, he uses the example of a wet, rainy sidewalk in the morning. While one may not have seen it rain, Merchan says, one can infer that there was a storm or shower at some point overnight.
Justice #Merchan rereads some of the limiting instructions he read at trial, reminding #jurors that certain types of #evidence were presented for a limited purpose — e.g. to assess a witness’s credibility — & are not indications of #Trump's guilt in & of themselves.
Merchan reminds jurors that they cannot hold Trump’s choice not to testify against him as they deliberate.
Justice #Merchan explains the concept of #ReasonableDoubt. He says, “It is an actual doubt, not an imaginary doubt. It is a doubt that a #ReasonablePerson, acting in a matter of this importance, would be likely to entertain because of the evidence that was presented or because of the lack of convincing evidence.”
[“Reasonable person” is a legal term as well w/its own definition]
#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 reviews the case for what may be the final time, starting w/the #Trump Tower meeting. So this is an abridged version of his already abridged timeline, reducing the case down to its key elements.
Steinglass presents the very many moments at which Trump spoke to key players in this series of events around the #StormyDaniels payment.
#Steinglass makes a specific argument — that #MichaelCohen wasn’t just freelancing, as the #Trump lawyers have suggested repeatedly trying to distance Trump from the events in the case. It’s a microcosm of scenarios we’ve seen over & over w/Trump for decades. #SEC investigators are told that staffers made mistakes, or reporters are told Trump was never really involved in specific controversies & aides actually had.
#Steinglass says that #MichaelCohen just wanted to be reimbursed & had no reason to push for creating false business records. “The defendant was the beneficiary of this entire scheme,” Steinglass says. “He was the one trying to get elected.”
#Steinglass tells the jurors that thejudge will explain reasonable doubt to them and & them to listen carefully. He reminds them of the concept of #AccessorialLiability: That a person who directs someone to commit a #crime is equally guilty of that crime. Steinglass brings up his preferred analogy for this, the husband who hires a hitman to kill his wife. The defense objects & the judge sustains it: It is his role to explain the #law, not Steinglass’s.
#Steinglass says that #Trump’s #intent to #defraud could not be any clearer, arguing that Trump could have simply paid #StormyDaniels himself, but instead devised an elaborate scheme to pay Daniels secretly that required the involvement of at least 10 other people. “Everything Mr. Trump & his cohorts did in this case was cloaked in lies,” Steinglass says, adding, “The name of the game was concealment, & all roads lead to the man who benefited the most, Donald Trump.”
#Steinglass says that the evidence is overwhelming & that while #Trump is a former president, the #law applies to him the same as it does to everyone else.
Specifically, Steinglass invokes Trump’s infamous line about being able to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue & get away with it, saying that he in fact can’t. Blanche objects, & Merchan sustains it.
Trump shakes his head as Steinglass says this line.
#Steinglass says that soon it will be time to deliberate and that the jurors should return & find #Trump guilty on all 34 counts against him. He asks that, in the interest of #justice & the state of #NewYork, the jurors find Trump guilty. He thanks the jurors for their time & he’s done.
Also there’s #Exhibit36, in which #JeffMcConney describes in McConney’s own handwritten notes based on a conversation he had w/ #AllenWeisselberg. He testified #Exhibit35 contains on the left-hand side, Allen Weisselberg’s handwriting. McConney said, I know it’s his handwriting because I’ve worked w/him for 35 yrs.