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That period of time was one of intense competition between #MichaelCohen & Trump's longest-serving adviser, #RogerStone.
#Trump didn't ultimately run in the election in the following year. But he did plant the seeds for himself in the #GOP primary by vaulting to the top of the polls on the #birtherism #racist #ConspiracyTheory #lie that President Barack #Obama may not have been born in the United States.
#Trump also flirted with a run for governor of New York in 2014, but decided against it [too much work]. A year later, he began his run for president.
#MichaelCohen said Trump didn’t run because he had a lot on his plate, including another season of "Celebrity Apprentice." "You don't leave Hollywood — Hollywood leaves you," Cohen said Trump told him.
Cohen's public rep these days is as a Trump hater. But his testimony has made clear that he once adored him.
#MichaelCohen explains that he wasn't going to be a part of the 2016 presidential campaign — he was "just going to be a surrogate," he says. This is the first in what is likely to be a series of humiliations by #Trump that Cohen is expected to testify to.
Cohen says he did some activities on behalf of the campaign, like putting together a "diversity" coalition. He was also given a campaign email address.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks #MichaelCohen if he ever talked to #Trump about whether he was concerned that negative personal stories would come forward. #Cohen describes a conversation before the presidential campaign kickoff, quoting Trump saying, "You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there's going to be a lot of women coming forward."
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#MichaelCohen has now testified that he, #Trump & David #Pecker, the publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, entered into a plot to suppress negative stories about Trump. He says Pecker "would be able to help us to know in advance what was coming out" & try to stop it from doing so.
This is the #conspiracy prosecutors allege Trump participated in - 1 of the potential #crimes that transforms the charges Trump is facing into #felonies.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen describes the negative stories about Trump's #GOP primary rivals The #NationalEnquirer printed. Some of the smears were directed at #MarcoRubio, the #Florida senator who is currently a top contender to be #Trump's running mate.
Cohen says that he "immediately showed" such material to Trump, who would greet it with praise like "fantastic, unbelievable."
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen understood the power of a supermarket #tabloid, which would reach #voters "at the cash register of so many supermarkets & bodegas." He testifies: "If we can place positive stories about Mr. Trump, that would be beneficial. He adds: "And if we could place negative stories about some of the other candidates, that would also be beneficial."
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen & prosecution discuss positive stories about #Trump that Cohen helped craft for The #NationalEnquirer:
Prosecution shows email back-&-forth between Cohen, & The Enquirer. Cohen is seen in the email editing what goes in & out of a puff piece about Trump. He doesn't want them to mention that Trump used to date a "Penthouse Pet" - evidence for the jury that Cohen was diligently micromanaging reporting of Trump's history w/women.
#MichaelCohen lays out the first #CatchAndKill story that he worked on w/ The #NationalEnquirer. It was about an allegation by a #doorman at a #Trump building that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock. Cohen describes telling Trump about it.
This is the first of the 3 #HushMoney deals that jurors have heard about. The last of them is Cohen's own $130k payment to #StormyDaniels.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#MichaelCohen says he monitored the progress of the doorman's story closely, & that The #NationalEnquirer struck a deal to suppress the story. Cohen says that #Trump was very happy to hear of it - & that Cohen personally reviewed the agreement, & asked for a copy to show Trump so that he knew it was taken care of.
Cohen is describing seeking “credit" w/Trump for "accomplishing the task" of making sure the doorman's story stayed dead.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen moved on to the 2nd #CatchAndKill deal, which involved #KarenMcDougal, who said she had an affair w/ #Trump. Cohen says he mentioned McDougal to Trump, & his response was:
"She's really beautiful." Cohen says he warned Trump that McDougal was shopping her story, & Trump told him to "make sure it doesn't get released."
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen is asked how he monitored the progress of the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal, & says he did so by text, phone & the app Signal. The prosecutor doesn't dwell on it, but that is documented evidence, & jurors heard from other witnesses, especially David #Pecker, just how much Cohen contacted the parties during that period in 2016.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#MichaelCohen's testimony is incredibly important. The witnesses who took the stand so far didn't have direct contact w/ #Trump. Rather, they spoke to Cohen. Cohen has already testified about multiple relevant conversations w/Trump himself.
Having told the jury earlier that he checked in w/Trump on every little thing, Cohen is able to testify that he kept Trump attuned to every little piece of minor news regarding the #KarenMcDougal deal.
#Evidence is displayed in the courtroom, including texts about the deal.
The text message exchanges we're seeing are dated June 16, 2016, one month before the #RNC, when #Trump formally accepted the #Republican Party's nomination. While behind the scenes, his fixer, #MichaelCohen, was frantically trying to ensure that Playboy model #KarenMcDougal would not go public w/her story about having had sex w/Trump.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen goes through his text messages w/ #DylanHoward, editor of The #NationalEnquirer, about #KarenMcDougal.
"I've got this locked down for you," Howard tells Cohen of the McDougal story. "I won't let it out of my grasp."
Cohen is asked about having been present for a conversation that #Trump had w/ David #Pecker about a week after those texts were sent. Cohen says Trump asked Pecker "how things were going," & Pecker said they had it under control.
#MichaelCohen describes a call when that David #Pecker said that it would take $150k to "control the story," referring to #KarenMcDougal's claims. Cohen testifies that #Trump said "no problem — I'll take care of it," meaning, Cohen says, that Trump would pay him back.
This demonstrate just how desperate Trump was to keep these stories suppressed: A lot of evidence has been entered about how frugal he was. (Though Trump never paid Pecker back for McDougal's story.)
#MichaelCohen reads more text exchanges w/ #NationalEnquirer’s #DylanHoward.
Jurors have already heard a recording, secretly made by Cohen as he talked to #Trump about #KarenMcDougal, corroborating this part Cohen's testimony.
Cohen said that #Pecker had told him the agreement w/McDougal was “bulletproof." That is exactly the same word that Pecker told the #jury that he had used w/Cohen.
Andrew Giuliani, another #Trump ally & the son of his fmr lawyer #RudyGiuliani, is also posting from the courtroom, calling #MichaelCohen a "serial liar" & smearing the Manhattan DA's office, which brought the case.
Cohen is asked how he communicated w/ #KeithDavidson, a lawyer for both #KarenMcDougal & #StormyDaniels, says "phone, email, text.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#MichaelCohen is now recalling David #Pecker applying pressure to get reimbursed for paying off #KarenMcDougal. "It was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company," he says. He adds that he had several conversations w/ #Trump about that fact. The jury is likely to again hear the recording that was played earlier.
#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Pecker "insisted" on being paid back, #MichaelCohen says. He even met w/Cohen at his favorite Italian restaurant. "He expressed his anger that I need to get this money back," Cohen says. Trump kept insisting he would "take care of it." But never did.
Cohen says Pecker intimated that he had known #Trump for years & had essentially compiled a dossier on him, which he would use if need be. Cohen worried that Pecker might release some very damaging stories about Trump.
#Pecker's mounting frustration about paying to kill stories on #Trump's behalf & not getting repaid is what leads to Pecker refusing to pay for #StormyDaniels story, & #MichaelCohen taking over as the funder of the #CatchAndKill operations.
Cohen testifies about recording #Trump directing him to pay David #Pecker back in cash — the jury has heard this recording.
#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
It fits w/ #MichaelCohen's narrative that he was often updating #Trump on the progress of the #KarenMcDougal #HushMoney deal - on the recording, Cohen only has to mention Pecker's name & it seems as if Trump knows that he's referring to that deal.
Cohen claims that this was the only conversation w/ Trump that he ever taped, & that he did it so that Pecker could hear that Trump planned to pay him back, thus retaining Pecker's loyalty.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Importantly, New York has a "one-party consent" law as to recording conversations. If a single party consents to a recording, it is #legal.
Jurors are played, for the 2nd time, the recording that #MichaelCohen described.
Jurors read the transcript of the recording on screens as the audio plays.
Cohen addresses the payment to #Pecker, referring to the publisher as "our friend David." Court again hears #Trump ask about financing & then advising Cohen to "pay in cash."
Big picture:
#Trump currently has senior #elected officials, including a possible future VP nominee, sitting in the courtroom listening to a recording of him, as a candidate, talking w/his lawyer about paying for material from The #NationalEnquirer. Trump has completely got the party under his boot.
#Pathetic #Deplorables #criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
Apologies for my late start
#TrumpTrial 🧵
Monday May 13
#MichaelCohen is on the stand today
#criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
Lenin and the Art of the Impossible - Vox Popoli
The Tree of Woe contemplates the impossibility of revolution: Every rock star began as a long-haired freak in a garage with a dream of a record deal and groupies. Every best-selling author began as a would-be writer being told that no one buys books.VD (Vox Popoli)
NEW: IRS Audit of #Trump Could Cost Former President More Than $100 Million
--
The #tax agency concluded in its long-running investigation that Trump effectively claimed the same massive write-off twice on his failed #Chicago tower.
#News #Law #IRS #Taxes #RealEstate #Government
IRS Audit Could Cost Trump $100 Million
The tax agency concluded in its long-running investigation that Trump effectively claimed the same massive write-off twice on his failed Chicago tower.ProPublica
Justice Clarence Thomas calls criticism of him ‘nastiness’ & ‘lies’
After facing harsh questions about his judicial decisions & accepting lavish gifts from a billionaire, #SCOTUS Justice #ClarenceThomas forcefully pushed back on
his critics Fri — saying he & his wife, #GinniThomas, have endured “nastiness” & “lies.”
#law #SupremeCourt #JudicialEthics #BoughtAndPaidFor #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/10/kavanaugh-thomas-alito-supreme-court-speeches/
#Georgia Promised to Fix How #Voter Challenges Are Handled.
A New Law Could Make the Problem Worse.
==
SB 189, which goes into effect in July, will give Georgia residents more time to contest the eligibility of fellow citizens’ inclusion on voter rolls.
The #law will make it easier to use questionable evidence in those challenges.
#News #Elections #Voting #Election2024 #Government
https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-law-could-lead-to-more-voter-suppression
Georgia Law Could Lead to More Voter Suppression, Advocates Warn
SB 189, which goes into effect in July, will give Georgia residents more time to contest the eligibility of fellow citizens’ inclusion on voter rolls and make it easier to use questionable evidence in those challenges.ProPublica
The report said that conclusion was based in part on the difficulty of collecting reliable information from the #war zone & the way #Hamas operates in densely populated areas. It also stressed that #Israel has begun the process of seeking accountability for possible violations of the #law, a key component in the #UnitedStates assessment about whether to provide #military aid to allies accused of #HumanRights violations.
#LawsOfWar #Gaza #Palestinians #HumanitarianCrisis #MiddleEast #geopolitics
The report also noted that “#Israel has not shared complete information to verify” whether #US #weapons have been used in specific incidents alleged to have involved #HumanRights #law violations.
Nevertheless, the report, mandated by President #Biden, deems that assurances Israel provided in March that it would use #US arms consistent w/ #InternationalLaw are “credible & reliable” & thus allow the continued flow of #UnitedStates #military aid.
In the admin’s most detailed assessment of #Israel’s conduct in #Gaza, #State said in a written report to #Congress that Israel “has the knowledge, experience & tools to implement best practices for mitigating #civilian harm in its #military operations.”
But it added that “the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions” as to whether the #IDF are using them sufficiently.
#LawsOfWar #HumanRights #Law #Palestinians #MiddleEast #geopolitics
The #Biden admin has concluded it is “reasonable to assess” that #Israel’s military campaign in #Gaza has violated #InternationalLaw, but has not found specific instances that would justify the withholding of #military aid, #State Dept told #Congress Fri.
#LawsOfWar #InternationalHumanitarianLaw #HumanRights #Law #Palestinians #HumanitarianCrisis #MiddleEast #geopolitics #Security
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/05/10/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas-rafah/biden-israel-us-weapons-gaza?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Federal Appeals Court Upholds #SteveBannon’s #Contempt #Conviction
Stephen# Bannon, a longtime ally of #Trump, had been found #guilty of defying a subpoena from the House #Jan6 committee.
#law
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/us/politics/stephen-bannon-contempt-upheld.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
#PaulManafort, poised to rejoin #Trump world, aided Chinese media deal
After pleading #guilty to #MoneyLaundering & #obstruction of #justice, Paul #Manafort, the globe-trotting #political consultant & former campaign chairman for #Trump, asked for leniency in his sentencing, telling a federal judge 5 yrs ago that he was nearly 70, struggling w/health concerns & remorseful for his actions.
#law #criminal #pardon #VoteBlue #BidenHarris2024
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/10/paul-manafort-pardon-donald-trump-china/
You know that conversation about expanding #SCOTUS
This article explains why that may not make a difference in more liberal outcomes for our #Democracy #law #Supremecourt
https://www.vox.com/scotus/24145279/supreme-court-shrinking-docket-quiet-quitting
Supreme Court justices are the most powerful, least busy people in Washington
The justices are quietly quitting their day jobs as judges, even as they become more and more political.Ian Millhiser (Vox)
I'm looking to borrow (it's $200 and I'm not buying it) a copy of an extremely niche book from a law school library for a week or so. It's called "Cybersecurity and the Courthouse: Safeguarding the Judicial Process".
It should be very useful for all of my recent #cybersecurity work in that area (see https://github.com/qwell/disclosures/).
If you, dear reader, have access to such things, I'd like to have a chat to see what we can figure out.
Boosts highly appreciated.
GitHub - qwell/disclosures: List of vulnerability disclosures
List of vulnerability disclosures. Contribute to qwell/disclosures development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
What I don't understand about the #TikTok problem is what makes TikTok worse than #Instagram, #Facebook, #Google or #Twitter?
Either you ban algorithmic timelines or you ban government spying. But if you only ban TikTok, the #propaganda will still reach us via the other networks ...
TikTok ban in the United States: https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/explaining-why-officials-want-to-ban-tiktok-in-the-united-states/article_2f1c3092-0baa-11ef-8c02-df0aeedefee3.html
#news #censorship #politics #China #USA #algorithm #software #socialNetwork #internet #problem #law #surveillance #economy
Explaining why officials want to ban TikTok in the United States
The bill states that TikTok has nine months to divest itself from China and that TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, sells the platform to another company. If a sale is agreed to,WPSD Local 6
"Friends of the Court," ProPublica's investigation into Supreme Court justices' beneficial relationships with billionaire donors, has been awarded the #Pulitzer Prize for Public Service!
Here are the highlights from the reporting (THREAD)
#News #SCOTUS #SupremeCourt #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #HarlanCrow #Law #Journalism
The arrest of two city council members in a small #Texas town set off a firestorm of legal controversy that's reaching all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. From Correspondent Jason Buch, in our magazine: https://www.texasobserver.org/small-town-politics-national-consequences/
#news #politics #USpol #SCOTUS #police #CriminalJustice #law #SouthTexas
Did a Tiny Texas Town Misuse Arrests to Silence Critics?
A power struggle in the suburban enclave of Castle Hills got so bad that the Supreme Court is being asked to clarify the definition of retaliatory arrests.Jason Buch (The Texas Observer)
