#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 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.
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.
Today’s #TrumpTrial testimony 🧵
Friday, 3 May, 2024
Custodial witness, Doug Daus, a forensic analyst in the Manhattan DA’s office will continue to testify about obtaining audio from the phones of #MichaelCohen, #Trump’s former fixer.
Senator #JDVance, Eric Trump, Boris Ephsteyn, his legal adviser; Alina Habba, one of the lawyers from his civil fraud trial; US House Rep #NicoleMalliotakis; Senator #TommyTuberville; & the #Iowa & #Alabama attorneys general.
This is the biggest entourage we’ve seen him with so far.
He must be scared.
#Trump currently has senior #elected officials, including a possible future VP nominee, sitting in the courtroom listening to a recording of him, as a candidate, talking w/his lawyer about paying for material from The #NationalEnquirer. Trump has completely got the party under his boot.
2 #Republican senators, a congresswoman & 2 state AGs are listening to a now-disbarred lawyer advising Trump on a #HushMoney payment.
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
Holy hell, #TuckerCarlson just said that #Trump would still win the election “if he’s not killed first,” & said that “anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you & your family.”
#FoxNews pundits denounced the #verdict. “It’s inconceivable in New York that anyone else other than Donald Trump would be indicted in this way,” said Andy McCarthy, a legal analyst. Jeanine Pirro called the case “riddled with errors” & declared, “We have gone over a cliff in America.”
It will be the 1st time #Trump & #StormyDaniels see each other face to face since her accusations. He denies they had sex. Daniels has spoken about him & his body in a pretty let’s go w/ “candid” way.
In her book Full Disclosure she wrote that whenever she saw him on TV for years she’d think:
#StormyDaniels is describing a remarkably intense encounter.
“What did I misread to get here,” she says she thought. She says she tried to leave & #Trump blocked her path, he didn’t threaten her she said, but she noted his size being much larger than her own.
Then she says she “blacked out,” though she did not take alcohol or drugs. At this point, the judge — who has sustained one objection & seems unusually angry — called for a sidebar. He sustains another objection.
#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.
Prosecutors have pictures of #Trump w/ his bodyguard #KeithSchiller on 24 Oct 2016, right around 7:57PM. The defense had sought to suggest that #MichaelCohen had talked to Schiller that night instead of Trump, as Cohen originally testified. Now, the prosecutors will fight to get this piece of #evidence in, which shows that Cohen easily could have talked to both Schiller & Trump on the call, as he testified.
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.
#StormyDaniels is pushing back on #Necheles, asking for evidence when the lawyer claims that Daniels had called her lawyer weak-willed.
Daniels: “Show me where I said that,” - forcing the defense to produce exhibits to back up allegations.
Necheles pulls up the transcript & audio & Daniels’s voice is not on the tape; it is #MichaelCohen & #KeithDavidson, her lawyer at the time - so Daniels is correct, not the #Trump atty.
#Necheles now brings up something inevitable: #StormyDaniels's work as a medium. "You've made a show & a podcast claiming you can speak w/ dead people, right?"
So now Necheles is trying to make Daniels look crazy by bringing up her beliefs in the paranormal & communicating w/dead people.
Keeping score, Necheles has tried to discredit Daniels by suggesting she is
#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.
#Hoffinger asks #MichaelCohen about that now. He says now he did not dispute the underlying facts of the case, but BELIEVED — & still does — that he should not have been criminally prosecuted for that specific offense, #tax evasion. He says that he felt pressured & felt that he was charged w/that particular #crime, which was not related to the #HushMoney payment, unjustly.
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.
A man w/a sign reading “GTFO of NYC” on one side & “Bootlickers” on the other was removed by police.
Another man approached Rep #LaurenBoebert & handed her a “Beetlejuice” program, & asked for her to sign it — poking fun at when she was kicked out of the musical for outrageous & disruptive behavior — was blocked by security.
Across the street, someone else could clearly be heard yelling “Matt Gaetz is a pedophile.”
Blanche asks about negotiations he had w/ ABC News reporter John Santucci regarding the #StormyDaniels story.
Blanche is restating his opening argument point that NDAs were typical among the wealthy & famous & that they were not illegal. (No one has said otherwise)
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.
The judge loses patience w/ #Blanche, "I'm asking the questions, OK," he says. "Im going to decide whether your client is in #contempt or not, so please don't turn it around." Blanche says in a higher-pitched voice that the prosecutors got as much time as they want.
Justice #Merchan makes a distinction, saying the prosecutors were answering his questions.
During the scold, #Trump turned to another one of his lawyers, Emil Bove, & whispered a comment.
#Pecker suggested that there was a "mutual benefit" to running the stories — it would help #Trump's campaign, & "it would also help me."
Pecker basically testified the symbiotic / parasitic relationship between the campaign & The #NationalEnquirer.
Asked about Trump's reaction to the stories, Pecker said, "he was pleased." He said that #MichaelCohen was also pleased about "the way I was going to handle these issues."
#Trump: “he ruled against me before he knew anything about me, he ruled I was a fraud [knowing nothing] about me. He called me a fraud & he didn't know anything about me!" Trump’s voice rising.
"It's a terrible thing that you've done," Trump tells the judge.
"You believed that political hack back there,"
Trump says, pointing to NY AG Letitia James, who's sitting in the courtroom.
Given his repeated warnings earlier this morning, the judge has given remarkable latitude for all of this.
"djt told [the reporter] the 600 [number] so he will be happy if that gets printed."
#Trump conceded he was the "djt" his son referred to in the email.
(Lunch)
Trump posted this over the recess (pic)
Judge Engoron actually said (context above):
"I'm not here to hear what he has to say. He's here to answer questions" — Engoron was explaining Trump can’t just go off & expect them to allow it.
The prosecution’s discussion of the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal —brokered in summer 2016— demonstrated that the payment was part of a #conspiracy to #influence that year’s #election.
Pecker said that McDougal’s payment was disguised as a contract for services, to avoid violating #CampaignFinance#laws.
Prosecutors repeatedly object to defense’s use of “President Trump” to refer to a meeting in June 2016, pointing out that #Trump wasn’t president at that point. Justice #Merchan sustains.
#Bove keeps jumping between topics during his #CrossExamination of #Pecker. Trump seemed engaged yesterday when this line of questioning began, today he’s more lethargic — sitting slumped in his chair, & he just tried to disguise a yawn.
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.
He cannot leave the courtHOUSE while the #jury is deliberating, Justice #Merchan informs him.
Outside the courtroom Trump spews a bunch of inciting lies attacking the justice system, democracy, the country, the judge… his basic “I’m a victim” BS.
"I don't even know what the charges are in this rigged case — I am entitled to specificity just like anyone else. There is no crime!"
Besides the fact that the #charges were all in the #indictment the grand jury approved over a year ago on 30 March 2023 & was delivered to him & his attys, but besides that, Judge #Merchan just read the damn charges in great detail while Trump was sitting there.
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
#RobertCostello testifies that “sometimes” his emails speak for themselves. Sometimes, the implication is & as he said earlier, they do not.
🙄 more [#mansplaining]
🚨🚨 Costello wrote in an email that his mission was to “get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from Giuliani or the president.”
The jurors are paying close attention, much more so than they did to the end of #MichaelCohen's cross-examination.
@Nonilex Aah, Trump is trying the old "I am a very important man and therefore my case deserves unique jury instructions and a higher burden of proof than every other criminal defendant" defense.
Good luck with that one, Donald. It may work with FedSoc judges you appointed, but not a truly independent judiciary.
Testimony started w/a bang last week as David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, said that he had entered into a secret plot w/ #Trump & #MichaelCohen to #CatchAndKill negative stories about Trump as he ran for president in 2016. #GaryFarro, the 3rd to testify, started off w/dry details about banking transactions. But #Farro is leading us to the #HushMoney payment
Mangold, one of the prosecutors, walked the banker Gary Farro through a wire transfer that occurred immediately after Essential Consultants LLC was created. The documents displayed show that on Oct. 27, 2016, #MichaelCohen & the LLC wired $130k to Keith Davidson, #StormyDaniels’ lawyer at the time. Cohen wrote that the purpose of the wire transfer was for a “retainer.”
Prosecutors played #CSPAN clips, starting w/one from an Oct 2016 #Trump campaign rally in NC, where he talks about 2 women who said Trump sexually assaulted them. “I have no idea who these women are,” Trump said at the time. “These are lies being pushed by the media & the Clinton campaign to try & keep their grip on our country. They’re all false, totally invented, fiction.”
Trump seems to be watching himself as the C-SPAN clip plays on the monitor in front of him.