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.
#MichaelCohen is scheduled to return to the stand Monday for further testimony.
Court is out of session on Friday so that #Trump can attend his son Barron's high school graduation. (To Barron’s dismay)
The defense spent the whole day casting Cohen as a liar & got a few admissions that he had lied under oath (which was known), possibly casting some doubt on his testimony.
"As many as 35 #deathrow cases in a #California county could be under review for discriminatory practices, including the exclusion of both #Black female and #Jewish#jurors.
The cases in Alameda County date as far back as 1977.
During #jury selection in one murder case from the 1990s, the prosecution left handwritten notes about prospective jurors — including whether they were Jewish or Black.
“I liked him better than any other #Jew, but no way,” one note said. “Must kick.”
Justice #Merchan has repeatedly asked for tighter answers & fewer extraneous details. The judge is sustaining most objections lodged by the defense.
Merchan's visible disapproval may be bad news for the prosecution. #Jurors often take their cues from judges. If the judge seems impatient with a witness, jurors could receive it almost as permission to feel the same way.
#Necheles, is seeking to attack #StormyDaniels's overall credibility. But Daniels told a very detailed story earlier about the not exactly consensual sexual encounter w/ #Trump, we’ll see how the #jurors process these attacks. It may very well backfire on the Trump team.
charges are falsifying business records to hide #HushMoney payments in lead up to 2016 election to #influence electorate
just one Trump supporter at the courthouse draped in a Trump flag.
#StormyDaniels's lawyer, #KeithDavidson, to return to stand. He negotiated the hush-money payment at the center of the case, & is expected to lay out details of the deal.
Longstreet’s testimony, including a description of the #WaybackMachine, which archives old online postings, is a good primer on #socialmedia basics, for folks who need it, may be necessary for some #jurors, I think during voir dire one said they used a flip phone & had never “seen a podcast”
#Mangold questions #GaryFarro slowly & deliberately. Farro says #MichaelCohen was eager to connect & wanted to open a LLC immediately. Farro opened an account for him & specified that Cohen didn't want addresses on the checks.
The #Trump team already told the #jurors that Cohen is a liar who is out to get revenge. But the witnesses depict him as an anxious man, who would do anything for the boss.
“Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me, he gave me a sense of urgency," Farro testifies.
Lots of evidence per the disguised monetary transactions related to the #KarenMcDougal deal. But most of the #jurors are still paying close attention, turning their heads from the prosecutor, Joshua #Steinglass, to the #witness, #Pecker, & back again.
Prosecutors in Trump’s #criminal trial say he has violated a #GagOrder barring him from attacking #witnesses, #jurors & others close to the case. Testimony is set to resume later Tuesday morning.
Prosecutors asked early last wk for #Trump to be held in #contempt. At that time, Judge #Merchan scheduled the hearing for today.
Merchan has only admonished TFG once so far—for muttering & gesturing in front of a prospective juror about her social media posts & responses during voir dire.
#Merchan repeatedly pushed #Blanche to clarify, only to have Blanche deny he said what he said. #Trump was lucky #jurors weren’t there.
"You've presented nothing," Merchan said to Blanche, & that was after he’d been presenting his argument for ~20 mins.
Trump grew more animated when Merchan pushed back on Blanche.
Several occasions when the judge was speaking, Trump turned to his other lawyers at the defense table & whispered to them.
Alright, who’s ready to see #Trump get his just deserts? He fucked up the whole damn world & that’s not an overstatement.
PS #BabySquirrel & I had a lovely weekend. It’s as boy! (He’s developed discernible - stuff)
He is doing quite well! Name: “Ramone” because he’s a sweet little punk rocker.
#Merchan has explained the concept of #ReasonableDoubt, instructed the jurors that statements made by the various attorneys are not to be accepted as fact, & #jurors are listening intently, a reminder that jurors take many cues from judges - as the impartial arbiter & why #Trump's attacks on judges are stupid.
Besides this case, today there's a hearing to determine the sufficiency of Trump’s #civil#fraud#bond for the $454M penalty, & Thurs, #SCOTUS hears arguments on his bs #immunity defense.
#Colangelo encourages #jurors to "tune out the noise" & "focus on the facts" during the course of the #TrumpTrial. He summarizes the evidence again, & says after all the evidence is in, Joshua Steinglass, another prosecutor, will do the closing argument.
He ends by saying there is "only one conclusion: Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree."
#Blanche said that the prosecution told a “clean nice story," but that it is not as simple as they would have the #jury believe. He said that many of the docs in evidence are almost a decade old. The testimony, he suggests, is similarly old. He said, the story that #jurors heard "is not true."
#Trump largely avoided looking at the jury during prosecution's opening statement. He shifted his body in their direction during defense’s.
The #media seems hell-bent on endangering the lives of prospective #jurors, and destroying any chance of assembling an #impartialJury to evaluate the case against #Trump. Even after #JudgeMerchan admonished the media for exposing the identities of potential jurors, resulting in the dismissal of at least two seated jurors, they continue to publish identifying information about them. This isn't #journalism.
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 jury in the #TrumpTrial is going to see a lot of paperwork #evidence, & prosecutor Joshua Steinglass explained to the prospective #jurors.
“As jurors you’re going to have to analyze the evidence, apply your common sense & draw the appropriate conclusions from that evidence. You’re going to have to roll up your sleeves & get into the weeds a little bit,” Steinglass said
That evidence will include voluminous checks, emails, invoices & texts, he said.
Steinglass explains the concept of “accessorial liability.” He uses the same analogy he did on Tues: a husband hiring a hitman to murder his wife, he asks prospective #jurors if they would understand the husband to be #guilty of the #crime. Today, though, the #defense lawyers object. #Merchan overrules, & the hitman question stands.
Steinglass managed to compare #Trump coordinating the falsification of docs w/a husband putting out a hit on his wife.
Necheles, Trump's atty, is trying to get the jurors to say they don’t like #Trump.
Prospective jurors are mostly answering that their disagreements w/Trump as president won’t impact their impartiality.
Necheles appears to be trying to draw prospective jurors into lying, which would be reason to dismiss them “for cause.” The defense has a limited number of opportunities to dismiss prospective #jurors for no reason at all, this is a way around using those.
#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.