#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

#MichaelCohen is asked if he responded to a post on Truth Social in which #Trump attacked Cohen & #StormyDaniels. He responds: “I’m not on Truth Social, sir.” But when asked if he responded elsewhere by calling Trump “dumbass Donald,” he agrees that he did.

#Blanche, referring to Cohen’s many instances of testifying in the past, in courts & in Congress, asks him if he swore an oath when he testified. Trump’s lawyers have accused Cohen of lying under oath.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#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

#Blanche is now going over the financial transactions that allowed #MichaelCohen to pay #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels, perhaps the closest he's gotten to the subject matter of the case.

He notes that Cohen hid those transactions from his wife, apparently seeking to call into question whether Cohen was really as concerned about his family - & his wife — as he suggested when explaining his federal guilty plea.

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

#Blanche asked #MichaelCohen about a number of different events, including an exchange of public statements w/ Michael #Avenatti, one of #StormyDaniels's lawyers, & conversations w/his wife. He ended by asking Cohen if he had deleted his communications w/his wife around that time, & Cohen seemed genuinely stumped. Then Blanche asks if Cohen, around this time, had taken to deleting his texts more generally.

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

#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

#TFG = #TheOrangeTurd, now on the official record

Thanks, Laffy.
I could hardly stop laughing througout the brilliant report by #Lawrence.

#StormyDaniels aka #StephanieAGregoryClifford legally humiliated #TFG, the "Orange Turd," several times.

#Stormy also outclassed #Trump lawyer #SusanNecheles in #CrossExamination.

#ToddBlanche torpedoed his own motions for a mistrial on the 1st trial day!
#GagOrder not modified

I ❤️ Justice #JuanMerchan and Lawrence!

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-why-trump-s-lawyer-called-him-the-orange-turd-during-stormy-testimony-210625605606

#Blanche said that #StormyDaniels’s "testimony, while salacious, does not matter.”

Blanche equated the "#CatchAndKill" scheme w/The #NationalEnquirer, to ordinary editorial decisions made by newspapers, portraying the practice just how news outlets operate, NOT TRUE.

Blanche used the term "catch & kill" mockingly. Whether his tone lands depends on the jurors: some may agree it’s overblown, others may see it as akin to #StateMedia #propaganda.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial

Then #Blanche turned to #StormyDaniels, who he says is also "biased" against #Trump. He narrated their meeting, saying at the time, Trump was working on a ”very popular” tv show called "The Apprentice."

"Ms. Clifford has made a life off these communications," Blanche says, attacking Daniels by her government name, Stephanie Clifford. He said the money she made from the Cohen payoff was pure opportunism on her part, & that she has made a lot more money since.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial

#Blanche made it clear that the #defense will continue to deny that #Trump had sex w/ #StormyDaniels.

Blanche called #MichaelCohen a "#criminal." [no duh. Criminals deal w/other criminals, yet point?]

Blanche continued: "He's obsessed w/President Trump even to this day.”

Blanche said Cohen demonstrated that obsession in his public interviews, & “his desire to see President Trump go to prison."

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

#Colangelo depicted #MichaelCohen as a flawed man who has lied before, saying he lied about the payment to #StormyDaniels initially "to protect his boss."

"This case is about a #criminal #conspiracy & a #coverup," Colangelo says, st the start of his conclusion of his opening statement, adding that at the end of the case, jurors will have no #ReasonableDoubt about #Trump's #guilt.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference #HushMoney

Finished w/describing the series of payoffs, #Colangelo details the part the #criminal charges stem from. He is describing the paperwork arrangement to reimburse #MichaelCohen for the #HushMoney payment he made to #StormyDaniels, & how #Trump & #AllenWeisselberg, sought to “disguise” the repayment.

There were chuckles in the courtroom as Colangelo says Trump was a "very frugal businessman" who watched all the spending at his empire.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy

"Another story about sexual infidelity, especially w/ a porn star, on the heels of the '#AccessHollywood' tape, could have been devastating to his campaign," #Colangelo says of the #StormyDaniels story. He says that "w/pressure mounting & Election Day fast approaching, Donald #Trump agreed to the #payoff & directed #Cohen to proceed."

Colangelo says Trump told Cohen to drag out paying Daniels, in the hopes of getting past the #election & then not paying her at all.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#Colangelo says that jurors will hear #Trump, in his own voice, urging the money be repaid in cash. This doesn't connect Trump to the actual #crime, which only relates to a payment to #StormyDaniels. But it suggests a pattern of behavior.

Colangelo is now describing the emergence of the "#AccessHollywood" tape on Oct 7, 2016, beginning w/ email outreach to Trump spox #HopeHicks. Colangelo reads aloud the worst of Trump’s language, bragging about grabbing women's genitals.

#law #TrumpTrial

#TrumpTrial has begun

#Trump’s #criminal trial for falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential campaign to hide an extramarital affair that occurred while his 4th(?) wife was pregnant from his majority #evangelical #Christian #electorate; to that end he arranged an illegal & financially fraudulent #HushMoney pay-off to the adult-film actress #StormyDaniels.

Once the prosecutor & Trump’s #legal team have outlined their cases to the jury, the 1st witnesses will be called.

#law