Imagine being such a reflexive and consummate liar that you'd whine that you weren't allowed do what you don't want to do - take the stand in your own defense. I think he's confusing the legal system he'd impose with the present system.
Soon he'll spout even more idiotic lies like: 'up is down', 'hot is cold', and 'I am God'.
Oops. He already did that last one. One down, two to go.
@LiberalEd@GottaLaff NFL According to O'Donnell, when he said he wasn't "allowed to testify", TFG was confusing it was the fact that the gag order prohibited him from answering the question that was asked...in other words, "No comment". But TFG is such a stable genius he doesn't know the difference.
That's certainly plausible.
But we should let him make that correction himself, rather than run interference for him. People need to stop playing "Trump whisperer" and giving him cover coverage.
2/ Inner City Press:
Blanche: We have evidentiary obj about next witness. There is hearsay
The People are trying to intro full transcript of Access H tape - but it is only coming in to show intent. Mr. Pecker already testified about it. I expect there will be witness today who was speak extensively about it
👉🏼The Court would take into account Weinstein decision 👈🏼
👉🏼Merchan: You mean the reversal on Harvey Weinstein? I don't think ruling changes my view at all. The law of Sandoval remains the same
Now, Blanche is jockeying to make it difficult for the Manhattan DA to introduce as evidence Trump's major threat last year, when he wrote, "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!"
You... might remember that one.
Blanche is trying to raise the bar for the DA to use this, requiring business records verification by having someone testify as to the authenticity of the date, the time, and account info for the social media handle @realDonaldTrump
.
Justice Merchan tells him: "I don’t see it having any impact on my ruling."
Let's unpack that exchange, briefly.
New York's top court overturned Harvey Weinstein's convictions, finding the court excessively admitted "prior bad acts" evidence prohibited by Molineux.
"The Court of Appeals did not create any new law. They simply applied it to the facts of that case."
The same was true, the judge said, with the line he drew on Sandoval — that is, the rulings establishing what prosecutors could confront Trump with should he testify.
Later in the morning arguments, Trump's attorney Todd Blanche tried to fight the admission of an "alleged Truth" by his client.
He's referring to something Trump posted on his social media platform by that name.
Bove: The two cell phones, you got the consent of Michael Cohen, signed Jan 19, 2023?
Daus: Yes.
Bove: But you got it Jan 23
Your unit didn't get the two phones under January 23. Let's talk about chain of custody - there's only 1 signature as witness, not two - that's not ideal if there is a dispute, right?
Daus: Theoretically.
Bove: You'd want to have 2 witnesses
You don't know if the phone was hooked up to the Internet, do you?
Daus: I do not.
Bove: You found a Signal App on the phone, yes?
Daus: I did.
Bove: Self-delete is an option, and it is difficult to get them then?
Daus: It is.
Bove: Mr. Cohen had it set for messages to self-destruct in 7 seconds?
Daus: He did.
Bove: What about the Dust app, which allows self-delete as soon as a message is read - it would make it impossible for someone like to you reconstruct?
Daus: Yes
Trump has closed his eyes with his body positioned toward the witness/the jury.
Katie's Sidebar: here's another pro-tip- you don't want your criminal defendant client appearing to be asleep for the first witness of the day & only 15 minutes into that testimony, when the jury can see your client appearing to be asleep.
Trump's lawyer Bove: A factor re-set can wipe all the data off a phone, right?
Daus: It can.
Bove: There was a factory re-set of Michael Cohen's phone in October 2016, yes?
Daus: There was.
Bove: So where did the file come from? On January 25, 2017, a synch
Bove: You don't know what the back-up entailed?
Daus: That file, certainly.
Bove: We'll talk about the September 6 file. But first, you didn't collect Michael Cohen's laptop?
Daus: We did not.
Bove: That's how you could know what he loaded on
Bove: The large number of contacts could come from the synch, right?
Daus: It could.
Bove: You know the call was cut off?
Daus: Near the end.
Bove: How do you know it was the end? Bring up Defense G19 - does it refresh your recollection?
Daus: No
Daus agrees with Bove that he has no evidence from Cohen's phone reflecting that Cohen had an incoming call at around the time the 9/6/16 recording cuts off.
Recall: Cohen and his lawyers released that 9/6/16 call in July of 2018.
Bove: The call you say came in at the end of the audio file - there's nothing on the cell phone about it, is there?
Daus: There is not.
Bove: This photo of Michael Cohen in the White House, is this the meta data?
Daus: Yes.
Bove: But there's no similar meta data for the audio files?
Daus: There is not.
Bove: There was another synch in October - but the exhibits show nothing about it - so we just have to take Michael Cohen's word about that happened in October 2020
… He's trying to sow doubt about the integrity of the recordings and messages extracted from Cohen's phone…
I will spare you the details of much of this cross examination, which involves highly technical inquiries about metadata and laptop syncing and forensic data extraction.
As my editor put it in our shared notes just now: THIS IS TEDIOUS!!!
Bove: And the phone was turned on again in 2022, did you know?
Daus: I did not.
Bove: And Michael Cohen used it to make another recording - and you don't know what he did-
Prosecution: Objection!
Justice Merchan: Sustained
Daus also agrees with Bove that Cohen's phone was synced with a laptop in 2017 and synced with an unknown device in Oct. 2020 and the DA’s office has not reviewed either of those devices with which the phone had been synced.
Bove: “Those events present questions about the reliability of the evidence, right?” Daus: It would seem so.
As Daus is questioned by prosecutors, Trump has been hunched over the defense table, writing on a piece of paper as his attorney Todd Blanche peers over him, occasionally whispering in his ear.
Bower:
Bove, reaching the end of his cross examination, gets to the point.
Cohen's phone has been synced multiple times, turned on and off, reset to factory settings...And the things I've showed you this morning raise some questions about how the phone was handled? Yes, Daus agrees.
CONROY: Did you see any evidence of tampering or manipulation on any of the data in the exhibits from yesterday DAUS: I did not
(Boom.) - that's me.(Phang)
Bove on Recross of Daus:
BOVE: Conversation is ongoing and audio file stops, you don't know what happens? DAUS: I do not.
One last question from the prosecutor:
CONROY: If I made a phone call seven years ago with the phone in my pocket would you see a log, would you not?
Daus confirms.
Next witness: Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the Manhattan DA's office
Longstreet has been called to review social media posts in connection with the case. Expect lengthy disquisition on the authentication of tweets, posts, 'grams, and Truths.
For the curious, the witness uses SnagIt for screen captures.
Longstreet is talking about how she checks 25-30 Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Truth Social accounts everyday while working on this Trump case in the past year-and-a-half.
👉🏼You know where this is going. As always, Trump's online fury is coming back to haunt him.
Prosecutor: Did you use the WayBack Machine to review previously published news articles?
Longstreet: I did.
Prosecutor: Including 405A, the Washington Post article [Access Hollywood tape]
Trump's lawyer Blanche: Objection
Justice Merchan: Jurors, step out
Morning recess.
NOTE: TIME FOR ME TO BREAK TO GET READY FOR THE DAY. I’LL BE BACK TO CATCH YOU UP, ASAP.
Hicks now works as a communications consultant for herself and says she is paying for her own counsel, was last in contact with him in summer 2022, and does not have any professional association with Trump anymore.
Hicks refers to Trump as a “very good multitasker” who often went from topic to topic in meetings and says it was not unusual for her to be “in and out” of meetings.
[Me: Multitask = no ability to concentrate on one thing at a time AT ALL]
Hicks: “Everybody who works at the Trump Org. reports to Mr. Trump. It’s a very big and successful company, but it operates like a small family business in some ways.”
On Direct, Hicks is asked about Keith Schiller, who she identifies as Trump’s bodyguard at big public events. She describes Trump’s relationship with Schiller as “close.”
She says Rhona Graff, Trump’s executive assistant, was “crucial to how everything ran on the 26th floor” and had institutional knowledge about his likes and dislikes, his networks, and his media appearances until she arrived. Trump’s relationship with Rhona was “one of mutual respect.”
Re.: Allen Weisselberg: Anything that had to do with finances, Allen was involved in. He was helpful dealing with personal financial disclosures and helpful with Mr. Trump’s finances.
Weisselberg did Trump's financial disclosure, which was a requirement that candidates file disclosure of their assets, it is needed and we put out a press release related to the filings and Alan helped with that.
His relationship with Mr. Trump was one of mutual respect, he had been with the Trump Org for a long time and had institutional knowledge and he was trusted.
Re. Michael Cohen: He was there when I began, I believe I met him before when I was working for a different PR firm working on Trump projects and I think we met at that time, he was an attorney.
Hicks eventually became the press secretary for the Trump Campaign: she would communicate the campaigns message, press releases and events and “a lot of media interviews."
Hicks says at the beginning, “it was just me and Mr. Trump,” who’s better than anybody at communications and branding. Later in the general election we did have a larger staff, dealing with phone calls and assisting and some other people would stay in the office each day.
COLANGELO: Who did you report to as press secretary? HICKS: I reported to Mr. Trump.
COLANGELO: How often did you speak to him as press secretary?
HICKS: Every day, over the phone and in person.
COLANGELO: How involved was he in media & the press aspects of the campaign?
👉🏼HICKS: “He was very involved”, he was responsible, he knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it and we followed in his lead, the messages focused on the agenda.
HICKS: “WE WERE ALL JUST FOLLOWING HIS LEAD”
Hicks said she would run statements by Trump, especially if they were about him. She traveled with him constantly and others who traveled with him included a social media aide, and a speechwriting aide.
"The core staff was very limited.”
Prosecution to Hicks: "If somebody wanted to reach Mr. Trump during the campaign, who would they call?”
Hicks says Trump was reachable and had a phone, but that if someone really needed to reach him, they would go through Schiller (the bodyguard).
Hicks is asked to confirm that she sent & received emails and texts and made phone calls for the campaign and identifies her email address and last four digits of her phone.
Hope Hicks testifies, under oath, that she does not remember being in the August 2015 meeting (w/Pecker, Trump, and Cohen) and but says it is certainly possible.
She does, however, remember participating in phone calls with them both, including after the National Enquirer published a piece about Ben Carson and “medical malpractice.” Hicks remembers Trump praising the reporting and telling Pecker it was “Pulitzer worthy;”
Per Olivia Nuizzi... Hope Hicks has a long and near photographic memory ... but says she doesn't recall the meeting with Trump, Cohen & Pecker and others at trump tower...
Similarly, she remembers a similar call after the Enquirer ran a story about Ted Cruz’s father and Lee Harvey Oswald. She remembers
👉🏼Trump praising Pecker for “great reporting.”
Re. the Access Hollywood tape-
Hicks: The afternoon of Oct 2nd, I received a call from the Washington Post asking for comment. I was in my office on the 14th floor of Trump Tower.
COLENGELO: Your first reaction? HICKS: I was very concerned…I was concerned about the contents of the email, the lack of time to respond... HICKS: I sent it to other campaign leadership like Jason Miller, David Bossie, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon.
Hicks testifies: I wrote in the email: “Need to hear the tape to be sure, DENY,DENY,DENY"
Hicks: I forwarded the email to Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Jason Miller -
Prosecutor: Did you says Deny Deny Deny!
Hicks (laughs) I didn't see that the whole transcript was there. It made the strategy harder.
[Trump is looking down and taking notes]
Hicks: Mr. Trump was doing debate prep, he saw the five of us talking and asked us to come in.
Prosecutor: What did he say?
Hicks: He said that it didn't sound like something that he would say. [I'm still laughing at this😆]
Prosecutor: Were you with Mr. Trump when you saw the video?
A: Yes
Hicks described the Access Hollywood tape as a “damaging development.”
“I think there was consensus amongst us all that the tape was damaging and this was a crisis,” she said.
Press:
Prosecutor: How did he react?
Hicks: He was upset... He knew it wasn't good, but it was locker room talk, pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other.
Prosecutor: What did he say should be done?
Hicks: Yes... We put out a statement.
Hicks watches Trump's video response to the Access Hollywood tape, which was posted on Twitter on Oct. 8, 2016 — and was shown to the jury earlier today.
Hicks: I got the email at 1:30, the story was posted at 3:30 and our statement was out by 4 pm. It said, Bill Clinton has said far worse
Prosecution: Did you post a video?
Hicks: Yes.
[Jury is shown statement Longstreet brought into evidence an hour ago]
Hicks: I motioned for Jason (Miller) and for a couple people to come out to speak with me so as not to disrupt the debate prep, but the sight of the 5 or 6 of us out there was a sign something was afoot and so Trump asked us to come into the conference room and share what we were discussing.
Hicks shared the email with Trump verbally; they were trying to get a copy of the audio to assess the situation further.
“Everyone was just absorbing the shock of it.”
Hicks has a vague recollection of starting to read the transcript, and then Trump read the rest of it himself before telling her, “That
👉🏼doesn’t sound like something I would say.”
The prosecutor notes that the video contrasted what Trump played down as his words as opposed to other people's actions.
Hicks agrees with that characterization.
Showing how coverage of the tape "dominated" the news cycle, Hicks noted they were anticipating a Category 4 hurricane making landfall on the East Coast at the time.
👉🏼Q: The "Access Hollywood" tape pushed the hurricane off the news?
A: Yes.
Hicks: I was stunned…. "I had a good sense this was going to be a massive story that would dominate the news cycle for at least the next several days.” And as for the impact on the campaign, it was a “damaging development” with lots of layers to it that “complicated where we were trying to go in a way that was going to be hard to overcome.”
Hicks: There was consensus among us all that the tape was damaging and that this was going to be a crisis.
When the conversation turned to how they were going to respond,
🤦🏻♀️👉🏼Mr. Trump felt like it was not a big deal, “not anything to get so upset over,” “pretty standard stuff for two guys.”
Prosecutor: What was the media response?
Hicks: It was intense. It dominated the news cycle until the debate. News about a Cat 4 hurricane fell away.
Prosecutor: Did prominent Repubs condemn Mr. Trump?
Hicks: Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, the usual group
Prosecutor: Did Paul Ryan disinvite Mr. Trump from a campaign event in WI?
Trump's lawyer Bove: Objection!
👉🏼Justine Merchan: Overruled.
Prosecutor: Did Mr. Ryan say he was sickened by Mr. Trump?
Hicks: Sounds like something he would say
Prosecutor: And Mitch McConnell - does this refresh your recollection?
Hicks: He said it was repugnant and unacceptable.
Prosecutor: Who was John McCain?
Hicks: He was a Senator
Trump's lawyer Bove: Objection!
Justice Merchan: Sustained.
Prosecutor: Did Speaker Ryan do a call with House members and do you know what he said?
Trump's lawyer Bove: Objection, may I be heard at sidebar?
Justice Merchan: Approach
[After sidebar]
Justice Merchan: The objection is sustained
After the debate, the New York Times about Trump's behavior — but the prosecutor cuts her off before she says more.
That's because the "behavior" in question is Trump's alleged sexual assault of two women — a topic the judge barred from trial as unduly prejudicial "rumor."
Hicks: At the debate Sunday in St. Louis, the Access Hollywood tape was among the first questions. After the debate, there were more reports.
Prosecution: Did you attend the rally in Greensboro NC on Oct 15?
Hicks: Yes
[Jury hears: If 5% believe, we don't win]
Orden:
Hicks testified that in the wake of the release of the Access H tape, she asked Michael Cohen “for help chasing down a rumor” about another tape. Colangelo asked Hicks to refrain from detailing the rumored other tape.
Q: Have you ever heard of someone named Karen McDougal?
A: Yes.
Hicks says she first learned about McDougal the same way she learned about the "Access Hollywood" tape — from a WaPo reporter, though a different journalist this time.
Why forward to Kushner? She knew that Kushner had a good relationship with Rupert Murdoch -- the publisher of the Wall Street Journal -- and was hoping to "buy a little time" to deal with this.
Kushner said he wouldn't be able to reach Murdoch and that the campaign should just focus on "dealing with it," according to Hicks.
Hicks also reached out to Cohen, who she knew had a relationship w/ Pecker.
Hicks also called Pecker to ask what was going on.
"He explained that McDougal was paid for magazine covers and fitness columns and that it was all very legitimate and that that's what the contract was for," Hicks says of her conversation with Pecker.
Hicks is paying for her own lawyer, something she stated at the start of her testimony. That matters. Trump loves to keep people in line by covering their legal fees.
Hicks is on her own. But we have yet to see what damning info, if any, she'll share.
In October of 2016, there were reports of Trump’s behavior with women.
👉🏼COLANGELO: Mr. Trump was concerned these reports could hurt his standing with voters?
HICKS: Yes👈🏼
Prosecution: Who was authorized to post from realdonaldtrump (Trump's Twitter account)?
Hicks answers: Trump himself and “one other staff member,” Dan Scavino, who could post “only with his approval.”
👉🏼Hicks confirms her understanding that all of Trump’s tweets were his language, either because he wrote or approved it. She said, “That’s my understanding, yes.”
Hicks forwarded it to Jared Kushner, whom she wanted to press the matter with Rupert Murdoch, the paper's publisher.
Hicks said that she floated her response to the WSJ by Michael Cohen — and then by Trump.
Exhibit:
Michael Cohen's email to Hope Hicks on Nov. 4, 2016, with a draft response to the WSJ inquiry vis a vis McDougal.
"These accusations are completely untrue and just the latest despicable attempt by the liberal media and the Clinton Machine to distract the public from the FBI's ongoing criminal investigation into Secretary Clinton and her closest associates."
Prosecutor: Did you asked Michael Cohen for input?
Hicks: He edited my draft statement.
Prosecutor: Did you speak with Mr. Trump?
Hicks: He wanted to have an understanding. I told him what Mr. Pecker said to me, that it was a legitimate contract for services
He did not want to use the statement we had drafted, he wanted to write his own - a denial and that we didn't know anything about this deal.
Hicks then learned: "The story was also going to mention Stephanie Clifford / Stormy Daniels."
Andrew Weissmann:
Hicks testifies that Trump upon fist listening to the Access Hollywood tape said it didn't sound like something he would say. OOF- not good for the defense. Recall: Trump first line of defense when the tape came out was it wasn't even him, before he switched to "locker room" talk.
Hicks testifies Trump was concerned about the reports from women coming up post Access Hollywood tape. Tape played of Trump saying at the time that it could lose him the election.
Hicks testimony, in sum and substance, proves that Trump lied in response to the news reports about Karen McDougal when he said he knew nothing about her.
"The judge starts out by making an odd clarification about his gag order.
He says that despite the restrictions on what Trump can say outside the courtroom, he can absolutely testify from the witness stand"
Ha! Odd, perhaps, but important. The judge is basically reminding everyone that Trump, having bragged that he's going to take the stand, cannot hide behind the "I've got a gag order, so I can't talk" defence. He never had the intention of testifying, Period.
Sorry for the confusion, Laffy. I'm all over the place right now. Basically, I'm reading your posts "in reverse" , as that is how they appear on the timeline. I'll do better
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