Search
Items tagged with: criminal
#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
“As part of this process, yet another false business record is created,” #Steinglass says, leaving a trail of potential #UnlawfulMeans that jurors could draw on during deliberations as they seek to determine whether #Trump unlawfully influenced his election victory.
On 27 Oct 2016, the money was sent, & on 28 Oct, just 11 days before the #election, #StormyDaniels signed the NDA.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Steinglass lands his argument by saying that while the sex between #StormyDaniels & #Trump took place in 2006, the payoff wasn’t until 2016 because his concern was NOT his family, as his lawyers have suggested, but the #election.
Though many of Trump’s family members have been staring at their phones throughout this summation, all of them looked up when Steinglass said that.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass now goes into 4 Nov 2016, four days before the election, the day that The WSJ broke a story about The #NationalEnquirer’s deal w/ #KarenMcDougal on #Trump’s behalf.
Steinglass reminds jurors that #HopeHicks sent over a statement for the story on behalf of Trump, & that Trump lied in the statement, saying he didn’t know anything about the Karen McDougal deal. Steinglass says Trump did know about it because he was on tape 2 months earlier talking about it.
Justice #Merchan thanks the #jurors for their patience & flexibility as he dismisses them for a 20-min break. Then, after they leave the room, he tells the lawyers, “they look pretty alert to me” & says that he will seek to finish closing arguments today — likely sometime in the evening, people are saying 7PM-ish. (My fingers are not thrilled)
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Blanche: “This is the #campaign, this is an #election, this is not a #crime.”
Blanche argued this in his opening statement, when he said “spoiler alert” — campaigns try to #influence elections.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche reminds #jurors that The #NationalEnquirer #Pecker testified that #Trump was a top celebrity who sold magazines.
“Absurd.” “Preposterous.” “Makes no sense.” Blanche’s closing is filled w/terminology ridiculing the government’s argument.
He argues it’s absurd to think that Trump would have entered a #conspiracy w/ The Enquirer to sway a national election, because they’re a tabloid.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
While it’s true that circulation for The #NationalEnquirer wasn’t huge, #Trump had a hugely popular Twitter feed & giant rallies, & during the 2016 campaign, he & his allies would post & he would talk about this stuff to amplify them.
+ The Enquirer has broken several stories over the yrs involving politicians & celebrities having affairs, incl’g fmr Senator John Edwards, who was a presidential candidate, & Tiger Woods.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche says that despite the prosecution arguing that David #Pecker agreed to suppress negative stories on #Trump’s behalf in 2015 — a practice known as #CatchAndKill — the phrase "catch & kill" was not used at that meeting. “Make no mistake about it,” Blanche says.
Blanche argues there was “nothing unusual” about catching & killing, & that Pecker testified that The #NationalEnquirer only published ~½ of the stories it purchased.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Meanwhile, President #Biden's campaign is holding a news conference outside the courthouse in Manhattan, a guarantee of attention since the media has been stationed here for week.
The speakers have focused not on the #TrumpTrial, but largely on the insurrection by #Trump supporters on #Jan6, 2021, & the threats the Biden campaign argues Trump poses to #democracy & the nation's future.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Prosecutors have objected to #Blanche 2X,
w/1 overruled & 1 sustained, as #Blanche talks about #Pecker saying he consulted lawyers about the deal.
Blanche attacks the phrase #CatchAndKill as if it were central to prosecution’s case. Prosecutors have stayed away from using it. It wasn’t in their opening statement, or the portion of the statement of #facts they released when #Trump was #indicted explaining their theory of the #conspiracy.
#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.
#Blanche moves on to the 3rd #HushMoney payment at the heart of the case: The one #MichaelCohen made in 2016 to #StormyDaniels, who said she'd had sex w/ #Trump a decade earlier.
Blanche lays the groundwork for his most important attack on Cohen, saying he is the only witness who testified that Trump knew everything about the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
While other witnesses testified about #Trump’s knowledge of the payment — notably #HopeHicks — #MichaelCohen connected Trump to the case like no other witness, including when he testified about the Jan 2017 conversation at Trump Tower, when Trump okayed the arrangements to hide the reimbursements.
“There is no way that you can find that President Trump knew about this payment at the time it was made w/o believing the words of Michael Cohen — period,” Blanche says.
#Blanche argues that if #StormyDaniels's allegations were so scary to the #Trump campaign, why didn’t it swing into action in April 2016, when a woman working w/ Daniels got in touch w/The #NationalEnquirer's parent company?
Obvious answer: the #AccessHollywood tape
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
After the break, #Blanche says that he has ~½ hr left of his closing argument. Judge Merchan says the jurors have agreed to stay late if needed, meaning closing arguments may end today.
Blanche discusses statements by #StormyDaniels that she testified she was coerced into making. This doesn’t seem to have much to do w/the case but is the kind of client-pleasing shit we’ve seen from #Trump attys.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche 2X notes that #StormyDaniels denied having sex w/Trump.
While this is technically true —she did put out a statement denying they had an AFFAIR in early 2018— she subsequently provided her account of the sexual encounter to “60 Minutes,” in a book, in a documentary & in this trial, on the stand, where she testified under oath.
#Trump has repeatedly denied the sex occurred, but has never done so under oath.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche, draws on a 2018 recording in which #StormyDaniels's lawyer at the time said that his client had “settler’s remorse” for having agreed not to tell her story. Blanche claims that Daniels changed not because she decided to tell the #truth, but because she wanted to make #money.
Blanche introduces what he calls a “separate conspiracy” between Daniels, #GinaRodriguez, her manager at the time, & #DylanHoward, who was the editor of The #NationalEnquirer.
Neither Rodriguez nor Howard testified, & their absence may give #Blanche room to *spin* his theory. He notes that, in a text, Howard said that he was not working on #Trump’s behalf. Blanche suggests Howard was acting against the interests of David #Pecker, his publisher.
Blanche again tells the jury, that NDAs are not inherently problematic, adding that there is nothing “illegal,” “sinister” or “criminal” about them.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Blanche alternate theory re #StormyDaniels's motive is that Dylan Howard, editor of The #NationalEnquirer, & Gina Rodriguez, Daniels’s manager, seized an opportunity in Oct 2016 to make $ from Daniels’s story.
Problematically, his alt version doesn’t address the falsified documents on which there were weeks of testimony from Pecker, #MichaelCohen & others.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche argues the #AccessHollywood tape, in which #Trump boasted about grabbing women by the genitals, is being portrayed by prosecutors as something it wasn’t: a “doomsday event” for his presidential campaign. Anyone who covered that election can tell you that the people around Trump & the broader #GOP thought it was catastrophic for his chances. So much so that there were talks of dropping Trump from the ticket.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche says that #Trump’s reaction to the #AccessHollywood tape was not what is being depicted by prosecutors — “He was concerned about his wife, he was concerned about his family,” he says — though he adds, moments later: “I’m not suggesting that it wasn’t a big deal for the campaign. Of course not. It was.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche moves on to #MichaelCohen’s relationship w/ #RobertCostello, a lawyer who Cohen testified had been part of a pressure campaign to keep him from flipping on #Trump in 2018 (& whose testimony was insane)
Blanche argues there is “no doubt” that Costello, who is 1 of only 2 witnesses the defense called, served as Cohen’s atty —the trial presented plenty of doubt about the nature of Cohen & Costello’s relationship.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche mocks #MichaelCohen’s testimony about the evening of 24 Oct, 2016. The testimony on which the defense lawyers felt they had scored a key point, because they presented #evidence that Cohen had talked to #KeithSchiller, #Trump's bodyguard, about a 14-yr-old pranking him. Cohen clarified on redirect that he had talked to both Schiller & Trump during the call & prosecution entered into evidence photos of Trump & Schiller next to each other mins before the call.
But the defense clearly thinks it has a winning argument here. “It was a lie,” #Blanche yells of #MichaelCohen’s testimony. He calls it “perjury,” emphasizing each syllable in the word.
Blanche reminds jurors that there is an oath to tell the truth & says that it “matters to most.” 🤣🤣
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche lists the people who he says #MichaelCohen has lied to, which includes his wife, his children, his banker, the #FEC & “every single reporter he talked to for about a year.”
Blanche tries what sounds like an attempt at a punchline: “He’s literally like the MVP of liars.”
There’s no audible reaction in the courtroom.
Irony is rolling in its grave.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche replays defense exhibits in which #MichaelCohen sounds giddy as he reacts to the news that #Trump has been indicted.
Blanche shows a tweet in which Cohen promoted a t-shirt featuring a cartoon drawing of Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars.
Blanche says before he concludes, that he will offer a list of 10 pieces of evidence that should induce #ReasonableDoubt in the jury.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche again argues that #Trump was in the #WhiteHouse when he signed 9 of the checks. Implying Trump was distracted when he signed them, & that his signature does not suggest his knowledge of the scheme.
‼️Using a slide labeled “manipulation of evidence,” Blanche now argues (again) that #MichaelCohen somehow tampered w/the digital evidence from his phones, including recordings. (Objection to just the label FFS!)
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche says #jurors cannot trust those recordings, & they cannot rely on #MichaelCohen himself — which, the defense has said many times, is a reason not to #convict #Trump.
Blanche then listed 10 reasons that he believed the jury should have #ReasonableDoubt as to Trump’s #guilt. But the list was hard to follow. He misstated the 4th point, which he then broke into 3 parts. He gave them all equal weight & barely mentioned some of them in the rest of his summation.
The last reason for #ReasonableDoubt on Blanche’s list is simply: #MichaelCohen.
#Blanche calls Cohen: “The human embodiment of reasonable doubt, literally.” (Umm, no not literally)
Blanche introduces the acronym G.O.A.T., commonly used to stand for “greatest of all time.” He then applies the acronym to Michael Cohen. “Michael Cohen is the G.L.O.A.T.,” Blanche says. The “greatest liar of all time.”
#Trump wrote this right?
(Idiot)
#Blanche reminds the #jury that deliberations should not involve their views of #Trump, & this is not a referendum on the ballot box.
Trump & his campaign have argued for the last several years that the trial is a politically motivated sham that is about the ballot box
Blanche concludes, thanking the jurors. He tells them if they pay close attention to the #evidence, “this is a very quick & easy not guilty verdict.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Before he concluded, #Blanche asked that #jurors not send his client to #prison. Now, w/the jury excused, Joshua #Steinglass, who will give prosecution’s closing argument, stands up & objects.
“That was a blatant & wholly inappropriate effort to call sympathy for their client,” Steinglass says, asking for a curative instruction.
Justice #Merchan is excoriating Blanche for making an “outrageous” statement.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Justice #Merchan, furious, reminds #Blanche, & not for the first time, that he was a prosecutor long enough to know it was out of bounds for him to basically beg jurors not to send #Trump to #prison.
Merchan told the court that he plans to give jurors a curative instruction — in other words, general direction that is aimed at clearing up an erroneous statement.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Back from lunch, #Trump has returned w/ Don Jr. & Eric& Lara, & Tiffany.
When we left, #Blanche was admonished by Justice #Merchan for imploring #jurors not to send Trump “to prison” on #MichaelCohen’s words.
The issue is that Blanche told jurors Trump could face prison due to their decision.
Jurors are ONLY responsible for deciding whether he is guilty or not guilty of the charges, sentencing is not in their purview.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Trump will be joined by several members of his family in court today: Donald Trump Jr; Eric & wife Lara Trump who is also co-chair of the #RNC; & Tiffany Trump & husband, Michael Boulos.
Non-family members joining Trump are Steve Witkoff, a real-estate investor & “friend”; Will Scharf, a #Republican candidate for Missouri AG & a Trump lawyer in another case; & Deroy Murdock, a #conservative #political “commentator”.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
