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Items tagged with: TrumpOrganization
Jurors would also have to find that #Trump caused that false record w/ #intent to defraud — w/the goal of keeping it secret — & that he either intended to commit another crime or aid the commission of another #crime.
Justice Merchan doesn’t go into this much detail for every count, but explains which document each count pertains to.
There are 11 invoices from #MichaelCohen, 12 entries in the #TrumpOrganization’s general ledger & 11 checks, 9 of them signed by Trump.
“This scheme, cooked up by these men, at this time, could very well be what got President Trump elected,” #Steinglass says, concluding the portion of his closing that refers specifically to the #Trump Tower meeting. He moves on to the first of the #HushMoney deals, which involved the #TrumpOrganization doorman who was hawking a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass uses the case of the #TrumpOrganization doorman to illustrate a point about looking at testimony in its full context.
#Blanche had noted that #Pecker said he would have printed the doorman's story, about #Trump fathering a child out of wedlock, regardless of whether it was true. But Steinglass shows the jurors that Pecker added that he would have waited until after the election to do so. “Because that was what they agreed to do.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial
#Blanche addresses the 3 specific #CatchAndKill deals prosecutors allege #Pecker was involved in, all of which they say were designed to protect #Trump. Defense argues all 3 stories are false.
He characterizes the 1st, involving a doorman at a #TrumpOrganization bldg, as “literally a made up story designed to harm President Trump.”
Blanche talks about Playboy model #KarenMcDougal who sold the rights to her story of an affair w/Trump to The #NationalEnquirer's parent co, #AMI.
#Blanche talks about the first batch of docs: 11 invoices that were sent by #MichaelCohen. The invoices said that Cohen required payment for #legal services, but Cohen testified at trial that he was directed to say that by the #TrumpOrganization. Prosecutors say #Trump himself initiated the false documents.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche manipulates the phrase “retainer agreement.” He has insisted loudly that #MichaelCohen testified there was no retainer, multiple times. Then he gestures toward an email from #AllenWeisselberg, #TrumpOrganization’s CFO, referencing an “agreement.” But that email says nothing about a “retainer agreement” specifically, & in fact, per Cohen’s testimony, refers back to his agreement w/ Weisselberg & #Trump to disguise reimbursements for the #HushMoney payment.
#Blanche key themes:
the documents —referring to this as a “paper case.”
Distance from it —#Trump, saying the leader of the free world had nothing to do w/the way documents were classified at the #TrumpOrganization.
+ Attack #MichaelCohen as a liar who was too greedy to do #legal work for free.
“What makes more sense?” Blanche asks now, asking whether the prosecutors’ allegations are more logical than the simple idea that Trump agreed to pay Cohen for legal work.
#Blanche argues that the 12 ledger entries at issue in the case were classified as #legal services because the #TrumpOrganization's software used a dropdown menu in which one of the limited options provided is: “legal expense.”
Needless to say, the dropdown menu does not have a “repayment for hush-money deal” option.
That Cohen did actual legal work for #Trump around when he received the payments from Trump has always been one of the defense’s strongest arguments.
