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.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy is laying out the challenge facing the critics & opponents who have sought to hold #Trump accountable. He has the protections of a candidate, & a number of people who support him think his rights have been stripped. But if he isn't #gagged, the #witnesses face greater #harassment & #intimidation.
#Blanche is now arguing that #StormyDaniels's testimony about her sexual encounter w/Trump differed from when she told her story previously.
Finally, the #PHSupremeCourt explicitly defined and explained what red-tagging is. Past decisions involving red-tagging cases did not give explicit definitions.
The decision publicized on Wednesday, May 8, said #RedTagging is the use of #threats and #intimidation to “discourage subversive activities,” adding that “whether such threats ripen into actual abduction or killing of supposed ‘reds’ is largely uncertain.” #Philippines#WritOfAmparo
History has shown us that, when left unchecked, hateful activity will grow and escalate.
That is clear when looking at the pattern of #Patriot#Front’s behavior.
The group has moved from flyering and stickering on college campuses,
to outright property destruction,
to in-person marches that have resulted in alleged assaults of people of color
Plaintiffs brought this lawsuit to hold the Patriot Front accountable for their escalating campaign of #vandalism and #intimidation and to send a message that hateful activity will not be tolerated.
It takes courage to stand up to hate,” said Arthur Ago, Director of the Criminal Justice Project.
A #juror was quickly dismissed at the start. She was among the 7 already selected, she said she was very worried that despite the fact the court ruled to keep jurors’ name secret, she would still be exposed & targeted.
The #juror explained that aspects of her being part of the jury are now out in #public. She said she was concerned about people knowing her identity.
The juror is worried about what has already been reported about her publicly. She said she had friends, colleagues & family conveying to her that she had been identified as a potential juror.
We are down to 6 jurors, & apparently waiting to hear from another, juror 4. The judge is addressing the #NewsMedia, saying there is a reason #reporters are taking measures to keep the #jury#anonymous.
It “kind of defeats the purpose of that" when so much information is #publicized about them.
"There's a reason this is an #anonymous#jury & why we have taken the steps we have taken," Justice #Merchan says, asking that the #press "abide common sense," & avoid physical descriptions.
Merchan says we lost a #juror who he thinks would have "been a very good juror."
"I'm directing the press to refrain from writing anything you observe w/your eyes & hear w/your ears that's not on the record," the judge says.
Joshua Steinglass, a Manhattan DA office prosecutor, suggested that prospective #jurors not be asked to answer who their current & previous employers are, to better anonymize them.
The judge says it's a great suggestion.
It was the juror questionnaire, which was not created by the #press, that included a question about employers.
The #defense is objecting to skipping the question about current & past employers.
"That's not fair," #Trump atty Susan Necheles said of being denied the info.
#Merchan asks the #press not to report the answers to questions 3a & 3d on the #juror questionnaire: "Who is your current employer?" & "Who was your prior employer?"
"I have the #legal authority to do it,” he says of blocking the press from reporting info about jurors' employers.
Justice #Merchan says the questions about employers are necessary. But he directs prospective jurors' answers to be #redacted from the transcript & #reporters to not report them.
Christopher Conroy, one of the Manhattan DA prosecutors, is now arguing that #Trump has continued to violate the #GagOrder that was placed on him. [ya think?]
Emil Bove, one of Trump's lawyers, says #Trump is simply responding to "political attacks" when he criticizes #MichaelCohen, his fmr atty & #fixer, who's a key trial #witness.
#Merchan makes no immediate ruling on possible violation of the #GagOrder, saying he will wait for a hearing scheduled for April 23.
So yeah, Trump is certain to spend the time before then posting crap that will test the gag order's limits.
#Merchan is now saying that the DA’s office came across information about juror #4 that called the veracity of that juror's answers into questions. The juror did not arrive at court on time.
The judge notes that the #juror was asked to be here at 9:15 & is still not here, & he expressed some reluctance to come in this morning. He is letting the parties discuss whether to dismiss the juror or wait for him.
It’s probably safe to say that few, if any, judges have had to deal w/the array of #threats to #their trial that Justice #Merchan has had to. Besides #Trump himself, who constantly tests the boundaries of his #GagOrder, there are his allies who attacking the judge & his family & who aren’t covered by the gag order. Then there’s the #media who has been putting potentially identifying info about prospective #jurors on TV.
#JurySelection began w/a sworn in juror getting dismissed over doxxing concerns.
“I definitely have concerns now. One of them especially being the aspects of my identity have already been out there in public. Yesterday alone I had friends, colleagues & family push things to my phone regarding questioning my identity as a juror.”
“We’re going to ask you to be patient as we walk you through all those documents in what sometimes may seem like excruciating detail.”
The potential jurors, called on individually by Steinglass, said they could do that.
#Trump is reportedly staring intently at the jury box as the #VoirDire goes on. He (again) shakes his head as Steinglass references someone being “criminally liable” for the acts of others.
#Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, confronted many prospective #jurors about their #socialmedia activity, clearly the lawyers know things about them, a lot of which was not stuff they were asked in open court. They clearly have people doing deep dives on these people. It’d be pretty hard to not have concerns that their identities will be leaked
The prospective #jurors left for the lawyers discussion, some may be brought back in for individual interviews. The defense & the prosecution may both seek to strike jurors "for cause." If they can't do so, they will use their limited number of peremptory challenges, which allow them to excuse jurors w/o a reason.
Those who survive challenges will be seated on the jury unless this process has given them the concerns articulated above.
More about the question of whether #Trump violated his #GagOrder by posting a quote from #FoxNews' #JesseWatters, Trump didn’t “repost” Watters, he wrote out his own post referencing Watters’s false characterization of prospective jurors.
"The isolated report of one Israeli heckler has been broadcast around the world as an instance of “anti-Semitism” after a performance by Northern Irish alternative comedian Paul Currie.
As a consequence, Currie has been banned from his entire Australian tour, with a whole run of shows cancelled at multiple upcoming comedy festivals.
#GagOrder Against #Trump Is Expanded to Stop Attacks on Judge’s Family
Donald Trump had in recent days targeted the daughter of Juan #Merchan, the judge overseeing his #criminal trial in Manhattan, in blistering social media posts.
#Merchan cont: “Put mildly, the assortment of allegations presented as ‘facts’ & cobbled together, result in accusations that are disingenuous & not rational. To argue that the most recent attacks, which included photographs, were ‘necessary & appropriate in the current environment,’ is farcical.”
“The People argue in their submission that Defendant's attacks, which include referring to a prosecution #witness last week as ‘death’, are based on ‘transparent falsehoods.’ …The People provide a plethora of compelling arguments in support of their claim that Defendant's conduct is deliberate & intended to #intimidate this Court & impede the orderly administration of this trial.”
DA #AlvinBragg prosecutors write, “There is simply nothing new here that would alter this Court's prior conclusion that nothing about this proceeding will directly benefit Authentic* or this Court's family member, let alone this Court.” (*#Merchan’s daughter’s co)