#Steinglass addresses another problem w/ #Blanche's argument — that he is trying to both say this wasn’t a reimbursement & it was also a legitimate legal expense.

“Their arguments are not necessarily consistent, but they’re passionate,” Steinglass says, about the defense's contradictory arguments at one point they argued #Trump didn’t know about the reimbursement & at another point that he did.

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

#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 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

“This scheme, cooked up by these men, at this time, could very well be what got President Trump elected,” #Steinglass says, concluding the portion of his closing that refers specifically to the #Trump Tower meeting. He moves on to the first of the #HushMoney deals, which involved the #TrumpOrganization doorman who was hawking a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.

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

Steinglass is highlighting David Pecker’s testimony that he discussed Karen McDougal with Trump. Steinglass says it offered “powerful evidence” of Trump’s involvement in her hush-money deal, and showed he knew about the payment and was actively involved in arranging it.

Steinglass also notes that the testimony does not rely on Michael Cohen in any way.

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

#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 tells the jury that #Pecker was willing to sacrifice his bottom line in service of #Trump’s campaign, & adds that this deal was “the very antithesis of a normal legitimate press function.”

Steinglass shows through call records the degree to which Trump would have had knowledge of the discussions around acquiring #KarenMcDougal’s life rights. Cutting against Blanche’s portrayal of Trump as a dupe who people took advantage of.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

#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 shows the jurors video clips of #Trump himself acknowledging that the “#AccessHollywood” tape & its aftermath could swing a very tight election. “If 5% of the people think it’s true, & maybe 10%,” Trump says in one clip, “we don’t win.”

Steinglass takes jurors through testimony from #HopeHicks describing what a disaster Trump understood the “Access Hollywood” tape to be, because she was “in the room where it happened.”

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference

Now, having painted a picture of just how desperate the #Trump campaign was as it spun the #AccessHollywood tape, #Steinglass reintroduces the jurors to #StormyDaniels (well done Josh).

“During the exact same month that the defendant was desperately trying to sell the distinction between words & actions, he was negotiating to muzzle a porn star who was preparing to go public,” Steinglass says.

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

#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

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

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.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

#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 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

#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

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

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

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)

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

#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