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.
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.
#HopeHicks was Trump's WH communications director when #KarenMcDougal sued to be released from her #AMI contract that barred her from speaking about her relationship w/ #Trump.
Hicks testifies Westerhout, Trump's exec asst, texted her, "Hey - the president wants to know if you called David #Pecker again?"
She adds that when she spoke to Trump after McDougal was interviewed on CNN by Anderson Cooper, she didn’t “recall him mentioning Mr. Pecker in those conversations."
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
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.
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.
#Pecker is openly admitting to his involvement in the #CatchAndKill scheme & is doing so quite candidly.
Pecker is now detailing the agreement #AMI, #Nationa Enquirer's parent company, struck w/ #KarenMcDougal. The contract guaranteed she would be put on 2 magazine covers & that the company would have the right to publish fitness columns by her. It's worth noting how bizarre this set-up was. It wasn't just buying her story — it was also giving her work w/AMI.
The deal went above & beyond for #KarenMcDougal & included the hiring of ghostwriters to pen her stories.
#Pecker says that the contract was intended to stipulate that McDougal would perform "services" for #AMI, that there was a basis for the $150k she was receiving.
Pecker is asked if The #NationalEnquirer had any intention to publish McDougal's story. Pecker is blunt: "No, we did not."
This is pure #CatchAndKill.
#Republicans — 3 who went on to work in the #Trump admin, while the 4th, #Comey, would eventually become one of Trump's chief adversaries. #Pecker, escorted by #Kushner, walked into that #shitshow & was then asked about #KarenMcDougal by the then president-elect.
Pecker testifies that in front of Comey [#WITNESSES!], the head of the #FBI, Trump thanked him for purchasing the stories - & likely committing AT LEAST 1 #CRIME in the process, as Pecker well knew.
#Pecker talked about #ArnoldSchwarzenegger for a long time, coming off as meandering as he described doing #CatchAndKill deals for Schwarzenegger once he entered politics. But Joshua #Steinglass, the prosecutor, then helped him link those deals to the matter at hand, asking: "Did you come to appreciate the legalities surrounding such an arrangement w/a political candidate?"
Pecker says he did.
The LA Times’ story about Schwarzenegger was very damaging.
Prosecutor #Steinglass wrapped up questions about #KarenMcDougal by asking #Pecker about a contentious exchange w/ #MichaelCohen, in which Pecker got concerned about the potentially #unlawful implications of the deal.
Cohen was upset & screamed: "The boss is going to be very angry at you."
Pecker — thoroughly anxious then - was firm.
“The deal is off," Pecker recalled telling him. Pecker concluded by saying that he was never paid for the McDougal deal & there was a 20-min break.
#Pecker testifies that he knew #MichaelCohen "didn't have any authorization to disperse any funds from" the TrumpOrg. Even when the 2 went for lunch, Pecker says, Pecker always paid.
Pecker testifies that after negotiating w/ #KarenMcDougal, he again asked Cohen who would pay. Cohen - who previously said that #Trump would - this time said, "You should pay." Pecker was reluctant, having already purchased another story on Trump's behalf, but Cohen swore he would eventually be made whole by Trump.
We still haven't reached the payment from which the #criminal charges themselves ultimately stem. But #Pecker's testimony about the #KarenMcDougal deal is important for the prosecution's argument about #Trump's intent: They argue that he was seeking to win the election through illegal means & the specifics of the McDougal deal help to bolster that argument.
#Pecker is now describing a follow-up conversation w/ #MichaelCohen in which he asked Cohen who would pay for KarenMcDougal's story. This was a central concern for Pecker. Cohen reassured him, telling him, "The boss will take care of it."
A recurring theme is the concern over who would pay for these Trump-related efforts. Pecker is now attesting to a key point prosecutors made in their opening statement, that #Trump was famously frugal.
In the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign, #Trump called David #Pecker, publisher of The National Enquirer. The candidate was seeking advice about a fmr #PlayboyModel who was trying to sell her story of an affair w/him, Pecker told jurors.
Pecker suggested a way to silence the model, #KarenMcDougal. “I think that the story should be purchased,” he said he told Trump. “And I believe that you should buy it.”
Because #Pecker had such a hard time getting #Trump to reimburse him, he was later unwilling to buy a third story, #StormyDaniels's story of having had sex w/Trump. Thus, #MichaelCohen bought her story instead, leading us straight to the #criminal charges at issue.
Joshua #Steinglass, the prosecutor, is now asking #Pecker about a call he had w/ #Trump about #KarenMcDougal after #DylanHoward interviewed her. Steinglass is emphasizing Trump’s direct personal involvement.
Pecker testifies Trump described Karen McDougal as "a nice girl." Pecker said this conversation made him believe that Trump "knew who she was." Trump is stone-faced as Pecker talks about this conversation.
#DanielRotstein, the man #Pecker used in an ultimately failed effort to secretly obtain reimbursement for the #KarenMcDougal deal, was his own #fixer of sorts. Pecker had long used him to deliver the news that employees would be fired, to the point that Rotstein became known at Pecker's company as "Dr.
Death."
#Pecker's last few minutes of testimony were key. He said that his company had disguised the #HushMoney payment to #KarenMcDougal as a deal for services she would perform for #AMI.
This is important for the prosecution's case:
They have to show that the #conspiracy that they accuse #Trump of participating in to win the 2016 election was conducted through "unlawful means." Pecker just indicated that it was.
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.
#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."
#Pecker said that after the #Republican#debates, #MichaelCohen would call him & direct him to focus the negative coverage on whichever candidate had been most successful.
Pecker's testimony isn't just damaging to #Trump. He’s killing his career by going through headline after headline & suggesting he attacked Trump's rivals to aid Trump.
Why is a former gambling casino owner on trial for $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels?
At an August 2015 meeting, Trump spoke with #David#Pecker, then-CEO of American Media, the parent company of tabloid the #National#Enquirer.
Pecker told Trump he could be the “eyes and ears” for Trump’s presidential campaign, on the lookout for any salacious stories people were telling about him. Prosecutors would later call this strategy a “catch and kill” scheme.
As Trump’s campaign began to grow, Pecker learned about an adult film actor who said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, the year after he married Melania, and was willing to go public with her story.
With the help of his former fixer #Michael#Cohen, Trump would allegedly pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to keep quiet about her story.
After Trump became president, prosecutors say, he started reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he would record in his financial records as legal fees to Cohen.
These payments could land Trump in prison. Prosecutors allege that Trump broke the law by falsifying these business records to hide illegal hush-money payments and protect Trump’s chances during the presidential election