A fmr White House aide who worked closely w/ #Trump returned to the stand to testify about a significant meeting between Trump & #MichaelCohen his personal lawyer that is at the center of Trump’s #criminal trial.
#Westerhout, described on Thurs setting up an #OvalOffice meeting in Feb 2017 between #Trump & his fixer, #MichaelCohen, where prosecutors say they discussed a #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels, a porn star who said she had sex w/ Trump in 2006 at a hotel in Lake Tahoe, NV. Cohen paid her $130k to stay silent about the liaison in the days before the 2016 presidential #election, & falsified business records to further hide it.
When #Trump entered the courtroom, he carried a sheaf of printouts w/him which he slammed down on the defense table. His lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, laughed & grinned. Apparently Trump likes to read through [only positive] news clips & social media posts during long stretches in court. The printouts come courtesy of his aide Natalie Harp, who is never far from Trump’s side & usually sits 2 rows back in the courtroom.
#Trump’s other advisers have nicknamed Harp “the human printer” because she travels around w/a portable printer so that she can quickly produce mood-boosting articles for Trump to read. She has also been spotted running after Trump’s golf cart on the golf course so that he can read things between holes.
#Westerhout who worked for #Trump in the #WhiteHouse is back on the stand. Trump atty #Necheles —whose day ended yesterday w/the judge harshly criticizing her, saying she did not object as she should have to some of #StormyDaniels’s testimony— is back questioning this witness.
The prosecutors called Westerhout to testify about Trump’s behavior once in the WH, specifically whether he met w/ #MichaelCohen & how he dealt w/checks.
Defense lawyers have sought to use #Westerhout's testimony for their purposes, asking her about her experience during the 2016 campaign. She didn’t testify about that period for the prosecution much — but the defense clearly thinks her knowledge of the campaign could be helpful.
#Trump atty #Necheles is seeking to use Westerhout's testimony to suggest that Trump & #AllenWeisselberg may not have spoken much in 2017, when the alleged falsification of business records occurred.
#Trump’s vanity & actual (despite his “enemy of the people” propaganda) affection for the #NewYorkTimes front page is front & center as the defense displayed a photo depicting then-President Trump saluting on a tarmac — though the article it accompanied is not flattering — the headline: “#Tax Plan Sows Confusion As #Border Tensions Soar.”
Nonetheless, #Westerhout testifies that Trump sent copies of it to many people, indicating he liked the photo (& probably didn’t read it)
While #Westerhout is testifying about Trump’s travel schedule, #Trump has been glancing down to read his printed puff pieces.
Part of the reason aides supply Trump w/these articles during trials — & they did it at his civil fraud trial last year as well — is to keep him occupied during the proeedings.
#Necheles is now again trying to suggest there were things happening in the chain of custody of mail sent to Trump that would have been out of Westerhout’s view.
The prosecutor #Mangold is now doing something we haven’t seen in this trial so far. She is questioning the witness’s knowledge of an #exhibit that the defense wants in #evidence.
This kind of questioning is also known as voir dire, a phrase more familiar during jury selection. Prosecutors want to make sure Westerhout can testify truthfully about this evidence.
The defense lawyer #Necheles is steering the witness, #Westerhout, toward describing the mailing arrangement for #Trump in the WH as a system that was set up merely to get mail to him quickly. She is seeking to suggest that there was nothing nefarious about it.
Necheles asks whether there was a similar set-up in previous presidential admins as well. Westerhout says that she doesn’t have personal knowledge about this but adds: “I can’t imagine it would have been any different.”
#Necheles is now taking up a second, familiar defense line, asking #Westerhout to describe #Trump as a multi-tasker who did not pay close attn while signing checks.
Overall, Necheles is seeking to cast doubt on the narrative the prosecution sought to establish yesterday: That Trump kept a close eye on private financial matters even while at the WH, & — in an unusual move — kept the checks out of the normal flow of WH mail by sending them to underlings.
#Westerhout testifies #Trump would sign checks while on the phone or in meetings.
#Necheles gets Westerhout to say that Trump felt strongly that he needed to get back to people quickly & was frustrated w/the slow pace of the mail in the WH. He found it disrespectful to friends who were trying to reach him — implying that the workaround to the WH’s mail — used for #HushMoney reimbursement — was not designed to conceal illegality, but bc he wanted to promptly responding to mail.
Importantly, #Necheles’s is again not addressing the #criminal charges #Trump faces — the fact that there was a system in place that maybe was about getting Trump his mail promptly — or suggesting that #Westerhout couldn’t see everything he was doing, or all the places checks/mail may have gotten to — all of it, unrelated to the actual charges.
While they only may suggest that there could be some alternate explanation for events, they never say what that explanation is.
Trump atty #Necheles turned to the subject of #StormyDaniels. #Westerhout testifies that the “whole situation” w/Daniels was “very unpleasant.”
But she does not seem to go where Necheles was hoping she would. Necheles asked if #Trump brought up his family in relation to Daniels's claims, but Westerhout said that he did not.
This is important because defense is seeking to suggest that Trump was motivated to pay #HushMoney because of concerns about his family, not the election.
#Mangold, the prosecutor, questions #Westerhout again during re-direct, & suggests that her actual knowledge about the reaction to the #AccessHollywood tape was nonexistent because she wasn't working for #Trump at the time.
👀🚨 Westerhout admits that she spoke to the defense lawyer #Necheles 2 nights ago. Another indication that she is trying to be a helpful witness to the defense.
Briefly, as she concluded re-direct, #Mangold sought to show the #jury that #Westerhout was a #Republican loyalist, noting that her current boss, too, is a veteran of the #Trump admin.
Westerhout finished testifying.
The next witness, #DanielDixon, is from #Florida. He will be questioned by the prosecutor #ChrisConroy. Dixon testifies that he is an #ATT employee, & that he is a lead compliance analyst at the company. He’s done that work for 6-7 yrs.
Michael Cohen will begin his testimony in the #TrumpTrial Monday, NBCNews has learned through multiple sources. He's expected to be on the stand for several days.
"From a political communication standpoint, I think the judge is making it easier for Trump to win the presidency. And Trump is responding by trying his best to get the judge to throw him in jail."
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.
#Merchan is effectively saying here that #Trump's position of totally denying the sexual encounter w/ #StormyDaniels opened the door for prosecution to introduce specific evidence that it did occur.
Judge also concern themselves w/being overturned on appeals, which can be embarrassing, especially in a high-stakes trial. By saying he went back & reviewed his own decision, Merchan sends a signal to appeals judges, that he took that first motion for a mistrial seriously.
Justice #Merchan criticizes defense for not #objecting to #testimony that was later used in a motion for #mistrial. He says he agrees that the question about whether #Trump wore a condom should not have been asked or answered. But he says he does not know "why on earth” defense atty #Necheles didn't object to that question.
Not only is Merchan signaling that he will likely reject defense’s mistrial motion, but he's dressing down their lawyering in front of their client.
#Merchan even criticized specific lines of defense’s cross-examination, chiding #Necheles in particular for leaning into the most awkward & uncomfortable parts of #StormyDaniels's testimony w/her questions in a way that he says he simply didn't understand.
[remember, the jury isn’t there]
After insisting to the defense that he barred certain details "to protect your client," Justice Merchan says, "I disagree w/your narrative that there's any new account here."
#Merchan cites specific issues w/the defense's arguments, saying that instead of denying the falsification of business records, they denied the sex w/ #StormyDaniels. [THANK YOU!]
"That in my mind allows the people to do what they can to rehabilitate her & to corroborate her story. Your motion for a mistrial is denied," he concludes.