#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.
In response to prosecution’s photographic #evidence, #Blanche argues that the defense never said or implied that #KeithSchiller & #Trump were not together that evening.
I’m guessing #Merchan allows the evidence, defense opened introduced the idea, prosecution should be allowed to rebut.
“I think it’s relevant,” Justice #Merchan says, but he hasn’t decided if he’ll allow it. He says he wants to research defense argument that it’s #hearsay.
Prosecution argues the #evidence isn’t hearsay because an earlier expert witness laid the foundation to show it to jurors.
The evidence goes toward rebutting #Blanche’s argument that #MichaelCohen lied about speaking to #Trump on 24 Oct.
Obviously the defense wants to keep this piece of evidence from the jury.
#Trump pledges to 'roll back' Democratic President Joe #Biden’s #gun#regulations put in place by Democratic President Joe #Biden & to fire the #ATF chief during a lengthy rally speech to the #NRA on Sat, during which he accepted the influential group's #endorsement.
"Tonight, Donald Trump confirmed that he will do exactly what the #NRA tells him to do - even if it means more death, more shootings, & more suffering,"— #Biden camp spox.
…Trump repeated a false claim that he won the 2020 election, & he went after Biden in aggressive terms, repeating claims of corruption that are not supported by available #evidence.
Watched something on #evidence in education, someone said "Think #Bias!" and the subtitles rendered this as "think by ass" and I will never not hear those three words every time I open a research paper.
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.
The Manhattan DA investigator #MichaelCohen was texting, Jeremy Rosenberg, was reportedly taken off the case after becoming close w/Cohen. #Blanche asks Cohen about the texts, but Prosecutor Susan #Hoffinger asked for a mid-cross #VoirDire, to question Cohen about the #evidence.
When she established that the texts had been taken out of context, she called for a #sidebar. Her objection was sustained, so Blanche is prevented from doing whatever he was trying to do.
#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.
Prosecutors are arguing that #Trump’s sign-off on the repayment plan, along w/his knowledge that #MichaelCohen would be falsely reimbursed for “#legal services,” indicates that he approved of what they say was a #crime.
There’s mountains of documentary #evidence that #Cohen was paid for legal services he didn’t actually provide, & that these were reimbursements. The question of what Trump knew relies mostly on Cohen’s testimony.
#Hoffinger makes clear that #MichaelCohen chose to testify & help the case despite not getting what he wanted.
Hoffinger, preparing for the defense's cross-examination, asks Cohen about the cell phones from which #evidence was pulled. The defense has tried to raise questions about when those phones were obtained & whether the evidence on them may have been manipulated.
Hoffinger asks if Cohen altered or modified the recording he made of #Trump.
He responds: “No, ma’am.”
#Evidence is displayed in the courtroom, including texts about the deal.
The text message exchanges we're seeing are dated June 16, 2016, one month before the #RNC, when #Trump formally accepted the #Republican Party's nomination. While behind the scenes, his fixer, #MichaelCohen, was frantically trying to ensure that Playboy model #KarenMcDougal would not go public w/her story about having had sex w/Trump.
#MichaelCohen says that the recording he made of himself talking to #Trump cuts off because a bank employee called him & he
"must have believed" the call was important.
But Cohen says he continued to speak to Trump about the #HushMoney deal w/ #KarenMcDougal after the recording ended.
This is another piece of #evidence that Trump's lawyers have sought to delve into, questioning why the call ended abruptly suggesting that Cohen may have manipulated evidence.
The jury sees a text from Howard to Cohen on 25 Oct, 2016, in which Howard says they need to get the deal done w/ #StormyDaniels or it would look “awfully bad" for everyone. #MichaelCohen testifies that they all understood the effect her story would have on #Trump's campaign if it came out so close to the election & on top of the #AccessHollywood tape. This is important contextual #evidence. The defense is arguing that Trump's motivation was to protect his family.
Prosecutors have done a painstaking job of using hard #evidence like phone records, text msgs & emails to corroborate the Cohen’s testimony, knowing in advance that his credibility would come under assault on cross-examination.
One of the important things
Hoffinger did was to explain, thru #MichaelCohen, why there were no emails w/ #Trump: because Trump didn't believe in email or, at that time, texting.