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Civil Discourse by Joyce Vance
Justice Alito
“You can hardly blame the folks who saw the flag flying at the #Alito’s home and decided it had to be brought to the Court’s attention. Surprisingly, it’s taken this long to become public. The Times reported that the half-dozen or so neighbors who were aware of it asked to remain anonymous because they “feared reprisal.” Let that sink in as we contemplate what a second #Trump term in office might look like.” #SCOTUS #USPol
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/justice-alito
Justice Alito
When I saw this headline in the New York Times late Thursday, a lot of different things ran through my mind. First, I wondered who had gotten through security to rig the flag at the Justice’s home.Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance)
An expert on deceptive communication says the jury might not like that #Trump is sitting with his eyes closed instead of making eye contact – or they might view it as him sending a message.
That’s just one of the observations he has, in a discussion with a former federal judge about this week’s testimony:
#News #BreakingNews #USPolitics #TrumpTrial
A silent Trump with eyes closed and a convicted liar on the stand − 2 experienced observers of Trump’s criminal trial discuss what stands out
Lying liars and closed eyes − both played roles in the most recent chapter of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York City.The Conversation
NEW #TrumpTrial 🧵starts HERE. #Trump #legal
Remember: I cannot reply while live-posting, so plz use NFL (Not For Laffy.. no hashtag) so I can skip your replies. THANK YOU.
Running a little late, so some preamble included here.
1/…
Tyler McBrien:
At 2:04 p.m., the prosecution strolls back in and lays out stacks of papers, binders, and other documents on the desk.
After #MichaelCohen is off the stand, the defense will have an opportunity to present its own case, calling witnesses & questioning them to try to seed reasonable doubt within the jury. Prosecutors can then put on additional #witnesses to rebut expert witness testimony.
Though from what #Trump’s attys have said, it sounds like they aren’t going to bother calling any witnesses or putting on a #defense — I guess they don’t have one.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#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
Before entering the courtroom, #Trump potentially violated the #GagOrder forbidding him from talking about prosecutors in the case, other than Bragg. He made what sounded like a reference to Matthew #Colangelo, one of the prosecutors, saying, "a lead person from the #DOJ is running the trial," & baselessly adding, "So #Biden's office is running this trial." Colangelo USED TO work at the Dept of #Justice, & Trump has used similar language to describe him in the past.
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
#MichaelCohen says that he learned that #Trump was indicted before the #indictment was unsealed in the courtroom, when NYT broke that news in 2023. He says Rosenberg alerted him to that article.
Blanche’s point here seems to be that Rosenberg, the investigator, did something inappropriate, alerting Cohen to the fact that the indictment had been handed up. But NYT broke that news widely before the indictment was unsealed.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
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
#MichaelCohen seems deflated after hearing that clip. Blanche asks if that was the first time that he had said he wanted #Trump to feel what Cohen himself had felt when he was prosecuted. Cohen says that he had expressed that sentiment before.
Reportedly Cohen’s voice sounded truly odd in the podcast clip. Giddy, high-pitched, & speaking so fast that it sounded as if the tape had been artificially sped up.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Blanche plays a 2nd clip of #MichaelCohen from his podcast, in which he says he hopes “that this man ends up in prison,” & “revenge is a dish best served cold,” & “you better believe I want this man to go down & rot inside for what he did to me & my family.”
Blanche asks Cohen if he believes his podcasts & media interviews played a role in #Trump's #indictment. “I took some credit, yes,” he says.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#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
#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.
Over the years, #MichaelCohen has repeatedly admitted to lying to Congress & elsewhere.
#Blanche asks Cohen to recall the lies he told to Congress about how many times he spoke to #Trump about a possible Trump Tower project in #Russia. Blanche’s goal is to show the jury Cohen is opportunistic even under oath. However, these were lies that Cohen has said he told to protect Trump.
Blanche: “You knew you were lying, correct?”
Cohen: “Yes”
#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's strategy seems to be repeating the word “lie” in every other sentence. If you’re a bored juror right now, you are hearing lie, lie, lie, lie. Even if you’re having trouble following the substance of Cohen's various lies, you are hearing an overall picture of dishonesty.
The risk for the defense here is that the jurors are reminded during closing arguments that #Trump hired this self-acknowledged liar & made him his lawyer, & hold Trump accountable for that.
#Blanche is now asking about the #FBI search of #MichaelCohen’s phones & his hotel room & office in April 2018, & the investigation into taxi medallions that Cohen had. Cohen walks through his partnership w/a man who cooperated w/the investigation, calmly & coherently. Jurors are paying close attention.
Cohen is knowledgeable & articulate about the ins & outs of the NYC taxi industry, even providing the exact number of the medallions allowing taxis to operate.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
This tangent is a strange & seems irrelevant. #Blanche asks #MichaelCohen to explain how the taxi medallion business works. Why is this a topic of questioning?
Blanche is hopefully building to some questions about the actual case at hand.
Apparently not, because Blanche moves on to Cohen’s guilty plea in Aug 2018, & gets Cohen to say that he “never denied the underlying facts” of the plea, & that he simply thought he shouldn’t have been charged.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#Blanche then asks if prosecutors pressured him to plead guilty, & #MichaelCohen says his lawyer conveyed that he had only 48 hrs to decide.
Blanche uses the language of the #law. When Cohen pleaded, he was asked whether anyone had “threatened or induced you to plead guilty.” Blanche links that to Cohen saying his lawyer told him his wife was under threat, & suggests that when Cohen said no to that question, he lied. Cohen agrees that he did.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#Blanche notes that #MichaelCohen said under oath that he accepted responsibility & then later undermined that outside of court. (Something #Trump constantly does)
A similar tack tripped Cohen up when he was questioned about his federal guilty pleas at Trump’s #civil #fraud trial. He was led into saying he had lied about one of the pleas itself. But earlier in the trial he clarified that he thought he had not been charged,but was not objecting to the underlying facts
This case largely rests on #MichaelCohen tying #Trump to knowledge of how the false business records at the center of the case were structured. #Blanche is portraying Cohen as an indiscriminate liar who changes his story situationally.
Blanche is trying to show that Cohen has not fully taken responsibility for his #crimes & blames others, for corruption. However, by showing that Cohen lashing out at the judge & prosecutors, Blanche is making him sound a lot like Trump.
#Blanche is using #MichaelCohen’s claims of widespread corruption — in which Cohen has accused not just Manhattan federal prosecutors but the judge in his case of being out to get him — against him. He is also using his previous testimony that he didn’t commit the #crimes to which he pleaded against him.
Blanche finally arrives at the moment that prosecutors sought to prep the jury for: That Cohen said under oath at #Trump's civil #fraud trial he had lied to a federal judge.
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 has already shown w/ #MichaelCohen's podcast clips that this case affects Cohen in a deeply personal way & he wants revenge against #Trump. This may cause jurors to wonder whether Cohen might be willing to stretch the truth to get it.
Blanche continues to harp on Cohen’s lies to a federal judge, a prosecutor objects several times. The judge sustains. The objections may have been made because Blanche had already asked a version of the same questions.
So many #HouseRepublicans have gone to NY to support #Trump at his trial that it’s messing w/ #GOP *work* Capitol Hill, including their partisan fights.
With Reps #AndyBiggs of #Arizona & #AnnaPaulinaLuna & #MikeWaltz of #Florida all at the trial, the #House Oversight has been forced to postpone its planned vote to hold AG Merrick #Garland in #contempt of #Congress. Today’s vote has been pushed back from 11AM to 8PM for members to return to Washington 🙄.
#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
#Blanche tries to connect #MichaelCohen having lied in his federal sentencing, when the outcome affected him personally, to his testimony here. “Do you have any doubt in your mind that the outcome of this trial affects you personally?” Blanche asks.
Throughout his cross-examination, Cohen has remained calm. He appeared mildly frustrated once but just shook his head after he answered one of Blanche’s questions.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#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
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
#Blanche says that #MichaelCohen has explained the distance between the 2 statements in different ways. At one point, under oath, he said that he had not explored a pardon, his lawyers had. At another point, also under oath, he said that that the seeming disparity stemmed from a semantic distinction between past & present tenses.
Blanche presses Cohen on whether he used semantics in his reply regarding whether he sought a pardon from #Trump or not.
#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
#MichaelCohen tries to explain the disparity #Blanche has been harping on involving if he sought a pardon. Cohen says a pardon was dangled, & he asked his lawyers, “Is this really something that they’re talking about? Can you find out?” But Blanche continues to focus on what he says were Cohen’s lies about the episode.
Blanche may have successfully made Cohen come across as dishonest. But he has yet to succeed in the goal of getting under Cohen’s skin.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
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
In earlier testimony, #MichaelCohen made #RobertCostello (#Giuliani ally & lawyer who offered services to Cohen in 2018 when he was under investigation) sound as if he were an intermediary for #Trump, trying to keep Cohen #loyal. #Blanche is trying to complicate the relationship, asking if Costello told Cohen he had the option to cooperate w/ #law enforcement.
Reporting is #Costello’s role was convoluted, but Cohen did accept some legal advice from him at that time.
During the #TrumpTrial morning break, POS #MattGaetz posted an obvious reference to #Trump's Sept 2020 command to the #ProudBoys by writing “Standing back & standing by Mr. President.” 🤬
#WhiteSupremacy #StochasticTerrorism #GagOrder #criminal #law
