Search
Items tagged with: MichaelCohen
Justice #Merchan says the #jurors also asked for headphones to use w/the evidence laptop. This suggests they may want to listen to the secret recordings #MichaelCohen made, or excerpts from his podcasts, or some other piece of evidence that includes audio.
Yesterday, Merchan noted that the laptop jurors are using to view the evidence is not equipped w/ Wi-Fi, & he just did it again, on the record, & had both parties acknowledge that they’d heard him.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial
There were few #witnesses whose testimony was central to the #crimes charged. One was #MichaelCohen, whose #credibility was attacked by #Trump's lawyer Todd #Blanche.
Another witness —who had no connection to the falsification of business records— was #StormyDaniels, whose #HushMoney from Cohen is what was covered up. Susan Necheles, the defense lawyer w/the most trial experience on Trump's team, worked aggressively to sow doubts about Daniels’s story w/the jury.
This #testimony is good for the prosecution.
David #Pecker testified that #Trump acknowledged speaking to #MichaelCohen about the issue & acknowledged knowing #KarenMcDougal, one of the women who was eventually paid to keep quiet during the 2016 campaign about her story of having had an affair w/ Trump.
“Karen is a nice girl,” Trump said on this call, according to Pecker’s testimony.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Pecker testified that he recommended that #Trump buy #KarenMcDougal’s story. The portion of #testimony ends before the #jury hears what comes next. Pecker testified that #MichaelCohen called him back & told him to buy McDougal’s story on Trump's behalf.
Jurors heard the portion of Pecker's testimony when he said he believed the story of Trump having had an affair w/McDougal was true, & would be embarrassing to Trump.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Jurors hear #Pecker recall that after he said he wasn’t going to go thru w/the agreement w/ #MichaelCohen, who was to pay him for the rights to #KarenMcDougal’s story using an LLC, Cohen told him: “The boss is going to be very angry at you.”
Court reporters read the 3rd portion of Pecker’s testimony. This part pertains to the Aug 2015 #TrumpTowerMeeting in which Pecker, Michael Cohen & #Trump entered a #conspiracy to suppress negative news about Trump during the #2016election.
Court reporters now read the 4th & final portion of #testimony that jurors asked to hear: #MichaelCohen’s recounting of that same #TrumpTowerMeeting.
Cohen’s testimony matches Pecker’s account closely. #Pecker testified that he had said he would be #Trump’s “eyes & ears” & watch out for negative stories. Cohen recalls him saying he would “keep an eye out for anything negative.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Justice #Merchan explains that the #law considers #MichaelCohen an #accomplice “because there is #evidence that he participated in a #crime based upon conduct involved in the allegations here against the defendant.”
🚨He tells the jurors that “even if you find the testimony of Michael Cohen to be believable, you may not convict the defendant solely upon that testimony, unless you also find that it was corroborated by other evidence” connecting #Trump w/the crime.
↑ this is specific to #NewYork #law. In NY, you cannot convict a person based on the word of an accomplice w/o corroboration.
It also explains defense’s focus on #MichaelCohen’s credibility & the prosecution’s insistence that his testimony is just one central strand in the broader tapestry of #evidence against #Trump.
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.
Prosecution argued all of the records were related to reimbursements to #MichaelCohen for the #HushMoney. Defense argues they were for legal services, an argument #Trump has contradicted before in #legal filings & elsewhere.
#Merchan gets to the 34th count — a check dated Dec. 5, 2017. He repeats the definition of falsifying business records, giving jurors a chance to process the complex charges, where each single count includes within it at least 2 other potential crimes.
As usual, #Trump has been quite active on his social media. Since court ended last night, he falsely claimed that prosecutors had introduced new “lies” about him during their closing arguments (you cannot introduce anything NEW in summation) & described #MichaelCohen, w/o specifically naming him, as “the bum that got caught stealing from me.”
#StochasticTerrorism #MobTactics #GagOrder
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial
#Steinglass says that the defense seemed to question the prosecution’s integrity when referring to certain documentary #evidence.
“There’s nothing sinister here, no manipulation,” Steinglass says, explaining that all relevant calls are in evidence. Then he argues that in a defense exhibit showing calls between #MichaelCohen & another lawyer, #RobertCostello, the defense “double counted half the calls.” (prosecution got the witness to admit it on the stand)
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial
“If her testimony was so irrelevant, why did they work so hard to try to discredit her?” #Steinglass asks, adding, “#StormyDaniels is the motive.”
Steinglass reminds the jury of the many ways defense worked to discredit Daniels.
Steinglass moves on to #MichaelCohen. He agrees that Cohen wants #Trump convicted, but says that Cohen is “understandably angry that to date, he’s the only one who’s paid the price for his role in this #conspiracy.”
#Steinglass tells jurors #Trump would not have paid a lot of money to #StormyDaniels just because someone had a photo of them on a golf course.
Steinglass says anyone in #MichaelCohen’s shoes would want the defendant to be held accountable”
“Mr. Trump decided, like he often does, 'I’m not going to pay this bill,'” Steinglass said, of the payment to the tech firm for which Cohen was eventually overpaid when he was reimbursed in 2017.
#Steinglass notes that the defense accused #MichaelCohen of stealing for overstating the amount he was owed for paying the technology firm. Steinglass acknowledges that Cohen was wrong to steal. But, he says, “it’s not a defense to a false business records charge that one of the conspirators is also guilty for stealing from another.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass says #MichaelCohen sells #Trump merch & will continue to, regardless of the outcome of the #TrumpTrial.
He says you can “hardly blame him for making money from the one thing that he has left, which is his knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump phenomenon.”
Steinglass describes Cohen lying to Congress about his dealings w/a Trump project in #Russia. Steinglass says Trump has “chutzpah”—Cohen lied to help Trump, & now Trump is using those lies to undermine Cohen.
#Steinglass telling the jurors something #MichaelCohen has long said about #Trump:
“These guys know each other well. They speak in coded language, & they speak fast.”
Steinglass counters defense's argument that Cohen called Trump's bodyguard, #KeithSchiller, not Trump himself, on the evening of Oct 24. Defense argued that the call was about a teenage prank caller, not about arranging the #HushMoney payment, as prosecutors had said.
#Steinglass starts a timer & pretends to have the exact same conversation, he adds a bunch of asides & silences. He plays the role of Cohen, talking first to #KeithSchiller & then to #Trump.
The call feels loooong. When Steinglass stops the timer, it’s only been ~49 secs, about as long as the call in question.
The point:
#MichaelCohen could have easily talked to both men, as he testified.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass points out #MichaelCohen could have told whoppers about #Trump or attributed far more damaging comments to him. Steinglass says that Cohen didn’t do any of that “because he’s limited by what actually happened.”
#Steinglass reframes Cohen for the #jury. “Michael Cohen was really more of the defendant's #fixer than his #lawyer,” he says, calling Cohen “the guy w/the boots on the ground that could #bully people & #threaten them w/lawsuits.”
#Steinglass asks #jurors to remember that “we didn’t choose #MichaelCohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store.” Then he raises his voice & says that #Trump chose Cohen “for the same qualities that his attorneys now urge you to reject his testimony because of.”
Steinglass adds that Trump chose Cohen “because he was willing to lie & cheat on Mr. Trump’s behalf.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass is making the significant points that this case is not about #MichaelCohen, & that Cohen was exactly what #Trump wanted in a lawyer.
This is always the issue w/cooperating witnesses. As Jonah Bromwich put it, “if you want to know what happens in the gutter, you have to talk to the rats.”
Steinglass reminds jurors that Michael Cohen testified he went to his family who questioned his “blind loyalty” to Trump.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass notes that #MichaelCohen has been consistently describing the events that took place in this case for 6 yrs.
Steinglass moves on from Cohen & turns to the documents prosecutors say were falsified. He displays a chart on the screens in front of jurors but says they don’t have to understand it just yet.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass outlines their theory of the Aug 2015 meeting between #Trump, #MichaelCohen, & David #Pecker, of #NationalEnquirer, in which they agreed to a plot to suppress negative stories about Trump & promote negative stories about his opponents.
Steinglass punctures one of #Blanche’s go-to arguments —that The Enquirer is like all publications & Pecker's arrangement w/Trump wasn’t unusual. There is nothing normal or standard about what the tabloid was doing w/Trump.
#Steinglass notes that while NDAs are not inherently #criminal, but they are “indeed illegal when they serve an unlawful purpose.”
#Trump atty #Blanche barely stitched together a story, but tried to distance Trump from the documents & ended by attacking #MichaelCohen.
Steinglass tells a sweeping narrative about a #fraud on the American people, & argues that Americans had the right to determine if they cared that Trump slept w/a porn star while his wife was home w/their new baby.
#Steinglass now talks# about the 2nd of 3 hush-money deals, which involved #KarenMcDougal & was arranged by The #NationalEnquirer. He says that #Pecker & #DylanHoward of The Enquirer & #KeithDavidson, McDougal's lawyer, spoke in code. But you don’t have to be a codebreaker, he says, to understand what they were talking about
Steinglass also notes that the trio was communicating w/ #MichaelCohen, who testified that he had been charged w/keeping #Trump apprised of their progress
#Steinglass notes that after closing the #HushMoney deal w/ #KarenMcDougal, the editor of The #NationalEnquirer did not immediately call his boss. Instead he placed a call to #Trump atty #MichaelCohen, underscoring, again, that The Enquirer was working on Trump's behalf.
We’re over hour 2, & Steinglass has a way to go, this won’t be done today.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass plays the recording of the conversation between #MichaelCohen & #Trump discussing the #KarenMcDougal deal in Sept 2016.
Steinglass argues that the conversation shows Trump’s “cavalier willingness” to hide this payoff & “unequivocally shows a presidential candidate actively engaging in a scheme to influence the election.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Steinglass describes the #Trump campaign’s reaction to the #AccessHollywood tape, & notes that the Trump campaign responded publicly that his words on the tape were “locker-room talk,” while they were quietly scrubbing the internet for anything that might be damaging to him. He shows that #HopeHicks relied on #MichaelCohen to use his media contacts to fight back against the negative press.
“#StormyDaniels was a walking, talking reminder that Trump was not just words" at a time when Trump was trying to distinguish between his words & both Clintons’ actions, #Steinglass said.
Steinglass notes that Trump had not shown much interest Daniels' story until after the #AccessHollywood tape came out.
He shows phone records w/a huge increase in communications between #KeithDavidson, #DylanHoward, #MichaelCohen & #Trump.
#Trump atty Todd #Blanche, during his closing, tried to convince the jury that the prosecution’s case relied entirely on #MichaelCohen. Josh #Steinglass is taking that argument on directly & indirectly. As he moves through the case’s timeline, showing every piece of documentary #evidence the prosecution has, he is reinforcing just how much does not rely on Cohen, but on the testimony of witnesses who are friendly to Trump & on phone records you can’t dispute.
To believe defense, you’d have to take #Blanche’s word #MichaelCohen went rogue & #Trump was clueless about the #StormyDaniels deal.
Steinglass details calls between #Pecker & #MichaelCohen, w/ #HopeHicks occasionally in the mix, reminding jurors how enmeshed Cohen was & how much he talked to the campaign.
As he takes jurors through the mountain of documentary evidence, he sympathizes, “We don’t need to show all these calls & emails… they’re in evidence if you want to see them.”
#Steinglass needs to show the jurors that the *alleged* #Trump Tower conspiracy between David #Pecker, #MichaelCohen & #Trump involved using “unlawful means” to aid Trump’s election.
Steinglass displays one of the unlawful means, a document called a business information overview that Cohen created as he sought to obtain the cash to pay #StormyDaniels.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass is talking about & showing evidence from 23-25 Oct 2016, a few days from when #MichaelCohen actually sent a #HushMoney payment of $130k to a lawyer for #StormyDaniels.
“There’s this crazy flurry of phone activity among the co-conspirators here,” Steinglass points out, & then rattles off the proper names — Michael Cohen to David Pecker, Pecker to Cohen, Cohen to Keith Davidson — to illustrate just how much phone activity there was over just 30 mins.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial
On 26 Oct, ONE DAY BEFORE making the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels's lawyer, #MichaelCohen talks to #Trump on the phone twice.
“This is damning, right?” #Steinglass says, using conversational language as he highlights the records.
He argues that Cohen was getting the final sign-off from Trump before he initiated the sequence of financial transactions that would conclude w/him wiring $130k.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
In the break #Trump posted “BORING!” & “FILIBUSTER” (separately. Also no such thing as filibuster in a court of #law).
#Steinglass says that after the #conspiracy to #influence the election & getting elected, #Trump still had to ensure no one found out “but here’s the problem, #MichaelCohen was out $130k.”
Steinglass says Trump couldn’t just write Cohen a check, & jurors should make no mistake: While Cohen wanted a head pat from his boss, “he also wanted his money back.”
#Blanche is trying to suggest that the meeting that Trump & #MichaelCohen had in 2015 w/ #Pecker, of The #NationalEnquirer, when prosecutors say they hatched a plan to suppress damaging stories about #Trump & promote negative ones about his rivals, was SOP between a presidential #candidate & the #press. It was not.
Blanche suggests that bc Pecker’s relationship w/Trump, & their #CatchAndKill agreement, was not an #election #conspiracy bc it predated the campaign.
#Blanche claims that #MichaelCohen fully fabricated an encounter that he had w/Pecker in which #Pecker expressed anger that he had not been repaid for 1 of the #HushMoney deals. “Ladies & gentlemen, that lunch did not happen,” Blanche said. “Cohen made it up.”
Blanche doesn’t provide any #evidence Cohen made it up. Instead, Blanche reminds jurors that they should pay close attention to documentary evidence in assessing Cohen’s testimony.
#Blanche is skipping around in his summation, which is making it a little hard to follow.
He now turns back to the recording that #MichaelCohen secretly made of a conversation he had w/ #Trump about the #KarenMcDougal payment.
Blanche suggests there is some kind of dispute over the authenticity of this recording. There isn’t. The recording sounds exactly the same as the one CNN played in 2018.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche attacks the recording. “This conversation is Mr. Cohen & President Trump literally talking past each other about what is going on,” he says, arguing that his client “has no idea what #MichaelCohen is talking about.”
Blanche comes up with an alternate version of why #Trump asked about “financing” in their taped conversation: that Trump was simply caught off guard & had no idea what was being discussed.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Blanche mocks #MichaelCohen's suggestion that there would have been essentially a duffle bag of cash that was used to make the #HushMoney payment, & says Cohen made it up. Perspective: #Trump was once paid a portion of a lease for a parking garage in gold bricks.
Defense's closing argument has now been going for >2 hrs. Blanche attacks Cohen, but he’s not focused on the docs at issue, or Trump’s role in creating them. Instead, he’s all over the place.
