Trump Trial

[RedCowboy]

What does this kangaroo court bullshit have to do with the Russian Ukraine war ?

You need to make a thread named ( My Trump Derangement Syndrome and my deepest hopes. )
You can pour over the deep state antics and say " Oh how I hope and even pray, that some how, some way, they will keep the big orange haired meanie away. "

 

[Ears and Eggs]

I have moved all the posts about the Trump Trial over to this thread. Feel free to discuss the Trump Trial, but please keep it in this thread. The other threads were supposed to be about the Iran conflict and the Russia Ukraine war. We can have the Trump Trial updates and discussion here.

 

[Unown (WILD)]

The spam was getting too much Paul.

 

[paul1598419]

Where exactly was it moved to?

 

[Unown (WILD)]

You're lookin at it lol

 

[paul1598419]

Thanks. The NY Times today put out an article about how Trump has comported himself during the trial. It says that during jury selection Trump actually fell asleep and woke with a start. That prompted President Biden at a rally to say, "Keep it down. Trump is sleeping." There is a possibility the jury could deliberate as soon as next week. Anyone not watching this is not interested in history. This IS historic!

 

[paul1598419]

Rudy Giuliani was served today after taunting Arizona prosecutors for being unable to do so. This was done on his 80th birthday party.

 

[paul1598419]

The transcript of the trial is out and Costello was admonished by Judge Juan Merchan outside the of the jury and the people in court today. Judge Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom today to tell an attorney who was testifying for the defense that he had poor decorum and he would not tolerate it. It is worth noting that there was a retired NY judge in the courtroom today, that when asked, said he had never cleared a courtroom in his life on the bench. Seems like that was a poor witness for the defense to bring. Juan Merchan said that if Costello continued to act this way he would strike his entire testimony and remove him from this trial. You just can't make this stuff up.

 

[paul1598419]

Well, the Trump Hush Money trial wrapped up without Trump taking the stand. The lawyers and judge will be working on jury instructions now. Robert Costello turned out to be a bad witness for the defense. He was admonished several times in front of the jury before Judge Merchan cleared the courtroom to call him "contemptuous." The prosecution fileted Costello as they made him admit that he was sent by Giuliani, but wasn't hired by Cohen. The prosecution also asked him about his testimony in front of the House.

With Trump himself calling this judge falsely "corrupt" one has to wonder if Trump is bracing himself for a conviction. The jury has been told they will come back next Tuesday and closing statements will happen then with the jury deliberating after that.

 

[paul1598419]

It has just been revealed that additional classified documents were found in Trump's bedroom at Mar-a Lago. There is a hearing scheduled for tomorrow to address this in a different court than Aileen Cannon's court. Also there were photographs of Waltine Nauta shown carrying boxes shortly after the FBI asked for the classified documents back. These were submitted under the crime exception by his lawyer.

 

[paul1598419]

Rudy Giuliani was arraigned today by phone in Arizona. He was told to submit his person within 30 days and to post a $10,000 bond. Of all the people arraigned today he was the only one who must post a bond. This was because he was mocking the prosecution for not being able to serve him.

 

[paul1598419]

Today Trump tried to get Judge Juan Merchan removed from his NY hush money trial. It was refuted by the NY Court of Appeals. The trial is rested and that would have been an insane thing to happen now. But, the SCOTUS did rule that South Carolina should be able to Gerrymander the way they have irrespective of the Court of Appeals ruling and the District Court that it was a violation of the Voter's Rights Act. This has been a Republican action since Ronald Reagan in 1981 when he stacked the DOJ with Ultraconservative people. Even the SCOTUS 5 to 4 decision to allow George W. Bush in 2000 to stop the ballot recount in Palm Beach, Florida which gave the election to him while the ballots there were actually going in the direction that would have ultimately given that election to Al Gore. Alito was a result of that. Yes, that same Samuel Alito who is the center of so much controversy now.

 

[paul1598419]

On February 22nd the Trump legal team filed a brief in the classified documents case. On the fourth page they misquoted the limiting actions that comes on all search warrant documents used by the FBI. The Trump brief misleadingly said that the FBI contemplated using deadly force against the former president. In fact, the FBI coordinated with the Secret Service and knew Trump was out of town. There were not hundreds of agents or helicopters, but social media had taken hold of this and tried to make it look like the FBI was trying to assassinate the former president. The actual document states that deadly force can only be used to prevent loss of life and goes on to say that force cannot be used against a fleeing suspect or at a car as well as other limiting factors. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted that Trump almost got assassinated to her three million followers. This same document went with the search warrant that was delivered to President Biden when he called the DOJ after finding classified documents at his home. All of this earned 4 Pinocchios in the Washington Post.

 

[paul1598419]

The Defense in the Trump trial has been making its closing arguments. They have been trying to make Michael Cohen look untrustworthy and Stormy Daniels seem that she kept the Trump Org. waiting too long before they paid her. They have also been trying to make the Nation Enquirer's buying stories as not "catch and kill." They are out for a break and will be back soon.

The jury is back and Todd Blanche is resuming his closing. He has made the statement that Stormy Daniels went public because of a threat to her during the time she was approached in a Las Vegas parking lot. He has said it is clear that Daniels lied to the jury. He has now said that Cohen was the only evidence that Trump knew about this. Now blanche has shown the jury a text message between Howard and Rodriguez showing that they were actually paying Daniels. He is now trying to say that Trump was only concerned about his family and not his campaign. He says this was not a doomsday event that the Hollywood Access tape came out. He said that nothing was criminal about entering into an NDA. He now has said, again, that Cohen was the only person who said Trump knew about this and they only brought Daniels in as an embarrassment to Trump.

Blanche has now said that Cohen said, "What about me?" He is trying to make the point that Cohen did this on his own. He said that by 2017 it was true that Trump then knew about all of this. "I don't know how many lies are enough lies to reject Cohen's testimony." He said that Cohen said he made that phone call to Trump and we all know how that ended. He said that Cohen said he talked to Trump on October 24th and that was a lie. He has now said that Cohen committed "perjury." He said that Cohen has never taken his oath to tell the truth seriously. He said Cohen "is like the MVP of liars." Cohen went from loving Trump to hating him. He has now said that he is going to give the jury 10 reasons why to not believe Cohen. First Cohen made the invoices to Trump. Second there is no falsification of business records. Third Weisselberg wasn't called. These are coming too fast the 6th, 7th and 8th arguments are all about Daniels not being corroborated by anyone. Tenth Michael Cohen is biased and not telling the truth. Meh. This took the defense just under three hours to make.

Looks like the jury will be released for lunch. After Lunch the prosecution will make their closing arguments.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is back in the courtroom. The prosecution is scheduled to make their closing arguments. Judge Merchan was unhappy when the defense said "You can't send someone to prison for this." The judge has precluded anyone from saying anything about punishment and the judge is going to issue instructions to the jury that punishment isn't part of their deliberations. That is happening now.

The prosecution is now making their argument that there are three things that needed to be proven to convict and they are going over all their proof. He said, "Don't fall for the argument that we trimmed down to mislead you, nor should you believe that we left out anything." Not every call is reflected in our prosecution. There are 11 different phone numbers for Donald Trump and not every call was used. Daniels was trying to get paid, but that is not extortion. You don't need Cohen to prove that Trump hid business records. You don't need to falsify business records if you're a victim. Davis Pecker's testimony proves that Trump knew that he had paid and falsified business records without Cohen's testimony. The defense tried to shame Stormy Daniels in order to discredit her. If Daniels testimony was irrelevant why did the defense work so hard to discredit her?

Michael Cohen was understandably angry as he was the only one who paid the price. Anyone in Cohen's shoes would want Trump to pay a price for his crimes. The defense has argued that Cohen got something, but his sentence was not reduced and he is still here providing evidence. The prosecution has now said that Cohen did steal from the Trump Org., but he brought that up without a question from the prosecution. You don't need to feel bad for Cohen as he made his bed and has to lay in it, but you can hardly blame him for making money on the one thing he had left. On the October 24 call the defense has called that a "big lie", but that could have actually happened just as Cohen said it did as 96 seconds was long enough to talk with both Trump's bodyguard and Trump as well. This was not the only update, but one of many that included Trump. There were many calls that included Donald Trump. If Cohen wanted to lie he could have just said that Trump told him that he had just slept with Daniels. We didn't pick Cohen as a witness, Trump did that. Cohen was Trump's "fixer."

There is literally a mountain of evidence of corroborating testimony that Trump hid this. Trump not only corrupted others, he got them to hide it from everyone else. Cohen was in the best position to prove that Trump covered this up. The defense cross-examined Cohen for three days. "This case is not about Michael Cohen. It's about Donald Trump." Cohen as the ultimate insider, he can help you do just that. There is now a graphic of all the times Cohen was in touch with Trump. Hope Hicks backed up Cohen's testimony at several moments. The "catch and kill" of stories were talked about many times whether they used that term or not. David Pecker hid many stories about sexual stories about Trump.

 

[Ears and Eggs]

Rofl, Robert De Niro gets in a shouting match with some Trump supporters outside of the Trump Trial:


Warning: Volume, Foul Language

https://twitter.com/x/status/1795471831362682966

 

[paul1598419]

Trump is no longer looking at the prosecution as they make their final arguments. "The value of this corrupt bargain cannot be overstressed. It turned out to be one of the most valuable contributions made to the Trump campaign." These purchases were unlawful. The doorman story would have been bigger than the death of Elvis. They were willing to wait because that would help the defendant's campaign. The jury is shown testimony by Pecker about buying these stories. The defense said that buying stories was democracy. It was actually the opposite of democracy. The prosecution has moved to Karen McDougal's story calling it catch and kill #2. Sometimes they speak in code, but you don't need to be a code breaker to understand this.

Cohen testified that he didn't want to be accused of not "keeping the boss updated." Cohen was pushing so hard on McDougal that he got Pecker to reach out to her. Howard said explicitly, I've got this for you. There's not room for debate here as Howard was not shopping around. He's acting in cahoots with the candidate to kill this story. Pecker told Trump that they should buy McDougal's story even though Trump said these things always seem to get out. Trump overtly discussed buying McDougal's story. Cohen was not authorized to buy lunch without Trump's consent. AMI did care about keeping this silent as they were afraid of anyone coming to look at this later. This was the defendant's deal...they were buying it for Trump. Pecker said, "We didn't want this to embarrass Trump or his campaign." Critical here is that Pecker never intended to publish these stories. This was all done for the Trump campaign. Pecker was willing to sacrifice AMI's bottom line in order to help Trump's campaign.

The prosecution is playing the audio tape between Cohen and Trump on 9/16. "This tape unequivocally shows a presidential candidate actively engaging in a scheme to influence the election." There is now an afternoon break.

Hope Hicks said, "This Access Hollywood tape eclipsed a category 4 hurricane." The Trump campaign was in damage control as as the GOP considered replacing Trump as their candidate in 2016. Stormy Daniels' story would have undermined Trump's ability to keep this from getting much worse. The prosecution has now shown more text messages between Howard and Rodrigues. This shows how invested AMI was in keeping all this silent. Trump said, "I have lost many women voters by stories that have been proven to be false." This was in the runup to the 2016 election. "Davidson knew who was pulling the strings." The prosecution is going through every text and phone call that happened with Trump and others during this runup. If you use an NDA for illegal purposes, THAT makes it illegal.

From people in the courtroom Josh Steinglass for the prosecution has been far more animated in his closing arguments than Todd Blanche was during the defense's closing. "It's no coincidence that the sex happened in 2006, but the payoff wasn't until just before the 2016 election." The prosecution has shown many documents showing that Trump knew about this illegal coverup including 11 that showed Trump's hand in this. The prosecution has called Michael Cohen the "tour guide" that brings this altogether. Prosecution is showing the jury the handwritten note from Weisselberg on the invoice from Cohen's payment to Daniels. This is what Cohen said he then showed to Trump right after its writing.

Prosecution has now called the handwritten checks to Cohen from Trump's own personal account and the exhibit #35 from Weisselberg the "smoking gun." Steinglass said that the defense had to say with a straight face that Trump knew nothing about this coverup. Weisselberg wrote down exactly how Cohen was to be reimbursed in exhibit #35. "The documents are so damning that you almost have to laugh at the way Mr. Blanche says there wasn't a fraud." Steinglass said there was no retainer agreement for Cohen and he was paid solely to be reimbursed. The defense saying the $35,000 per month was for legal services is ridiculous. Cohen spent more time being cross-examined than he did as a lawyer for Trump in 2017. Steinglass: Cohen was paid far more than any government job, and don't I know that. Trump has repeatedly admitted that these payments were a reimbursement.

Steinglass: The defense has said that Trump retained Cohen in 2017. The $35,000 a month just magically matches to the penny what Michael Cohen was to be reimbursed. Trump signed by hand using his distinctive sharpie nine of these checks himself. Trump was in charge of his company for 40 years and he had a hands on philosophy. Trump personally okayed the payment of a golf membership. Trump wanted to retain control over his $80 cable bill...because that is who he is. "The cardinal sin for Mr. Trump was in overpaying for anything." Trump kept a tight rein on his checks in particular. "If Donald Trump is checking invoices for his decorator you can bet he knew about his payments to Michael Cohen."

Steinglass: There were 11 invoices, 12 exhibits and nine checks signed by the defendant. This is the defendant caring about the election and not his family. Cohen texted "Big boss just accepted the payment. Will contact you soon." Steinglass: Period coving the WSJ's story about Stormy Daniels...Cohen was initially praised. Trump has been heard saying that he wanted to pay cash for the Stormy Daniels story, but Cohen said, "No no no. I've got this." Cohen spoke with Trump who said that he should remain strong. He later telegraphed to Cohen that he not flip. Costello said he was acting in his capacity as a lawyer which the prosecution called a "boldfaced lie."

Steiglass: Cohen's guilty plea on 8/21/18 was a threat and Trump immediately went on the attack. Trump said, "When someone screws you, you screw them back." Steinglass: Citing text messages and tweets the defendant was on the attack. The trial is on the last break of the day. Judge Merchan has said he wants this to go to the jury tomorrow.

"MR. TRUMP INVOLVED IN EVERY STEP OF THE WAY" is on-screen as Steinglass continues his final arguments. Steinglass: On the August 2015 meeting: This was not Pecker acting for Trump. This was Cohen being at many meetings with Trump personally. He was Trump's fixer. On Karen McDougal: Steinglass walks the jury through texts messages and phone calls. You see here a series of calls. Steinglass notes two phone calls on October 26th in which Cohen spoke directly to Trump. "Unlike the call on the 24th, this was about the final go ahead with the payments." Steinglass argues Weisselberg and Trump had a "frick and frack" routine and Cohen showed this in his testimony. Steinglass is walking through Trump's actions across the timeline including calls with Cohen and texts with Pecker that he knew about these payments. "It is inconceivable that Trump would pay for these and then suddenly stick his head in the sand." Trump was the only beneficiary of all these payments. Steinglass: "The People have met their burden of proof in every example." No one is saying Trump was behind a computer setting all this up, but he did set all this in motion. Steinglass: The People need to prove the intent to conceal another crime. So what crime did they conceal? NY state election law. When AMI paid McDougal $150,000 that was a campaign contribution. "Pecker was willing to put the campaign first before he put profits to his magazine to serve the defendant." Steinglass: "It is a crime to willfully create false tax forms." "You don't have to agree. Just move with whichever law you believe was violated. There is no need to agree on whether this was a tax violation or NY state election law."

The trial is now over and the jury will start deliberating tomorrow.