#Trump arrives in the courtroom, trailed by his son #EricTrump, his lawyers, as well as #Republican members of the #House of Representatives, including #LaurenBoebert & #MattGaetz.

The entourage is so large today that some people are being made to sit in the back. Others had to leave & go to Trump’s hold room.

If they do today what was done Tues, I hope Merchan hold Trump in contempt of the #GagOrder.

#criminal #law #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics #StochasticTerrorism #NodFarter

#Court officers explain, yet again, the courtroom's no-cellphone policy to the people here with #Trump.

The lawyers and the judge are having one of the longest sidebars that have taken place during this trial, if not the longest. Their voices are louder than usual, though the words they're saying aren't clear.

#law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #GagOrder #StochasticTerrorism #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal #NodFarter

The long sidebar may have been about scheduling issues. The judge just told the jurors that, if they are OK w/it, court may be in session next Wed, despite the fact that the trial is usually off on Wednesdays.

This suggests prosecutors & defense were quibbling over the calendar.
The defense sought to delay the trial many times before it started, & #Trump has complained that it was going too fast.

#law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen has been called back to the stand. The jury to be brought in.

#Trump atty Todd #Blanche continues cross-examination.
Blanche asks about texts between Cohen & the DA’s office.

Cohen agrees that texts shown w/ DA investigator are from around same time that he told a grand jury he was going to hold Trump accountable.

We are now on our third sidebar today.

#law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #GagOrder #StochasticTerrorism #NodFarter

There’s laughing when Justice #Merchan shoots down Todd #Blanche, #Trump's lawyer. Blanche asked for a sidebar & got a dismissive “no” from Merchan.

We’ve had 10 objections in <20 mins.

Defense plays a recording of #MichaelCohen celebrating Trump's indictment on his podcast. His voice is loud & enthusiastic to the point of seeming off-putting.

Some jurors seem uncomfortable.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#Trump is paying close attention, as clips play of #MichaelCohen describing how much he hates Trump & wants him to rot in prison.

Prosecution used earlier witnesses to introduce Michael Cohen to the jury as an outsized personality. + Cohen has not been shy on the stand about his hatred of Trump. These clips, while entertaining, might not come as a huge shock to the jury.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#Blanche has yet to ask #MichaelCohen about anything in connection to the actual case that's on trial.

Trump's lawyers have focused on impeaching the credibility of the prosecution's 2 biggest witnesses, #StormyDaniels & Cohen. Though while Susan #Necheles’s cross-examination of Daniels was largely focused & had an arc, Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen has been all over the place.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

All #criminal trials involve #testimony from other #criminals.

That’s the thing about criminals, they work with other criminals.

Duh.

#Blanche is now demonstrating for the jury that #MichaelCohen lied under oath for different reasons. By his own admission, it wasn’t only to demonstrate his #loyalty to #Trump. He lied also, Cohen admits, because the stakes affected him personally.

#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#Blanche is showing #MichaelCohen’s lack of remorse. Cohen has talked publicly about wanting to right the wrongs he committed while working for #Trump. Blanche is getting him to say he doesn’t think he should have been charged.

Blanche asks Cohen about blaming a lot of people for the conduct for which he was convicted. Cohen freely acknowledges he has.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

The defense is trying to suggest that #MichaelCohen has a history of manipulating the types of phone records that prosecutors have used here to bolster their case.

Blanche seizes on another lie: Cohen had testified years ago that he had never asked for a pardon, but testifies here today - as he did in a deposition - that he did, in fact, direct his lawyers to explore the possibility of a pardon.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen admits he asked his lawyers to explore the possibility, although he testified before a House panel that he would never have accepted one. Cohen points out — correctly, as NYT broke the story — that Trump was dangling pardons to people connected to the special counsel's investigation into the #Trump campaign's possible ties to #Russia.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

Jurors will have to determine when — if ever — #MichaelCohen began telling the truth. #Blanche is demonstrating that Cohen told lies, big & small, over a long period of time & for various reasons.

At the same time, prosecutors have & will demonstrate in re-direct & closing arguments that #Trump has told lies, big & small, about a number of people & issues in this & other cases.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#TrumpTrial 🧵 Thursday 16 May 2024

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.

#law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #StormyDaniels

#Hoffinger, the prosecutor asks #MichaelCohen specific questions about the recording.

Cohen says that when he insisted that David #Pecker be paid, he made reference to Pecker's dossier on #Trump. And he says that while he said "financing," he meant "funding," meaning he was asking how Pecker would be repaid for silencing #KarenMcDougal's story.

#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #StormyDaniels

Michael Cohen testifies that he - & everybody - at the #TrumpOrganization spoke to #AllenWeisselberg about financial transactions. Weisselberg, currently in #jail, was involved in coordinating the repayments to Cohen after Cohen paid #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels.

Cohen is emphatic that Weisselberg was involved in every deal no matter the size.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#Trump seems to have paid attention to very little of #MichaelCohen's testimony so far. He spent the first hour or so sitting still at the defense table with his eyes closed. After the morning break he's been awake but reading through printouts as he often does - likely news clippings printed by his staff.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal

An incredible number of hours went into covering up #Trump's alleged affairs in 2016. #MicgaelCohen & the team at The #NationalEnquirer went to elaborate lengths & constantly communicated about how to keep #women quiet. Accounting departments were engaged. Front companies were created. Misleading invoices were produced.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal

#Trump brought a posse today.

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.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal

Justice Merchan said before proceedings began that he would not allow in a piece of evidence related to #AllenWeisselberg, the fmr CFO of the #TrumpOrganization, who is currently in #jail.

Prosecutors had hoped to put in evidence his severance agreement that requires #Weisselberg still be loyal to #Trump, to help explain his absence at the trial. But the judge is saying he won’t allow it.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is eliciting testimony from #MichaelCohen that he didn’t work in the general counsel’s office at the #TrumpOrganization -- he worked directly w/ #Trump.

One of the matters that Cohen often handled was brow-beating the #media for any negative stories about Trump. Many reporters — some in the courtroom today — received calls from Cohen in which he attacked their coverage of his boss.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen begins to describe the projects he began to undertake for #Trump, saying that they were “exciting” to him. Cohen was something of a Trump fanboy, & it’s easy to imagine him taking great pleasure in doing these tasks for his new boss. He reported only to Trump, he has said several times. “Just to Mr. Trump.”

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen says #Trump’s praise made him feel like “I was on top of the world.”

Cohen testifies about threatening lawsuits against people while he worked for Trump. One was a #MissUSA contestant (I assume sexual assault but it isn’t said). In other cases, Cohen said, he would be antagonistic to reporters, warning them that Trump would sue them over specific stories.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen is asked if he was “strong” or acted in a “threatening manner,” to which he replies, “I would say so,” but adds, not all the time.

#Hoffinger asks if #Cohen interacted frequently w/the press — seeking to emphasize how much #Trump cared about what was written about him, even before he ran for president. Hoffinger asks if Cohen worked to “minimize negative stories” & enhance positive ones.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen testifies that #Trump "never had an email address." He adds that this was because of a fear of creating a paper trail, potentially for prosecutors.

#Hoffinger asks Cohen to recount conversations w/Trump in which he explained why he didn't use email. "He would comment that emails are like written papers. He knows too many people who have gone down as a direct result of having emails that prosecutors can use in a case," he recalled.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #mobTactics

#Hoffinger used #MichaelCohen to testify how #Trump didn't like leaving a written record of what he was doing, because, in Cohen's telling, he didn't want his words to get him into #legal trouble. This helps prepare the jury for a gap in the prosecution's case: that they need to rely on Cohen's word - & not a written record, like an email - to prove that Trump himself was involved in the falsification of business records.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen says he lied to people on #Trump's behalf. #Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks him about being called Trump's "#fixer." "It's fair," Cohen replies.

Cohen describes a remarkably servile attitude towards Trump. "The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task, to make him happy," he says.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks #MichaelCohen if he ever talked to #Trump about whether he was concerned that negative personal stories would come forward. #Cohen describes a conversation before the presidential campaign kickoff, quoting Trump saying, "You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there's going to be a lot of women coming forward."

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

Andrew Giuliani, another #Trump ally & the son of his fmr lawyer #RudyGiuliani, is also posting from the courtroom, calling #MichaelCohen a "serial liar" & smearing the Manhattan DA's office, which brought the case.

Cohen is asked how he communicated w/ #KeithDavidson, a lawyer for both #KarenMcDougal & #StormyDaniels, says "phone, email, text.”

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen is now recalling David #Pecker applying pressure to get reimbursed for paying off #KarenMcDougal. "It was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company," he says. He adds that he had several conversations w/ #Trump about that fact. The jury is likely to again hear the recording that was played earlier.

#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

#Pecker's mounting frustration about paying to kill stories on #Trump's behalf & not getting repaid is what leads to Pecker refusing to pay for #StormyDaniels story, & #MichaelCohen taking over as the funder of the #CatchAndKill operations.

Cohen testifies about recording #Trump directing him to pay David #Pecker back in cash — the jury has heard this recording.

#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

Big picture:

#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.

#Pathetic #Deplorables #criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal

Apologies for my late start

#TrumpTrial 🧵

Monday May 13

#MichaelCohen is on the stand today

#criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal

Lawyers indicated that their opening statements will take a little more than an hour combined. Justice Juan #Merchan also noted that one #juror reached out before court resumed to express nervousness about the media attention surrounding the case, but the judge added that the juror is still here.

#law #Trump #AlvinBragg #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #JuryTampering #WitnessIntimidation #StochasticTerrorism #MAGA #MobTactics