#Pecker doesn't want to say that he was being misleading, but #Bove is hitting on a contradiction: Either Pecker misled #MichaelCohen, or the legal agreement was in fact "bulletproof" & thus not unlawful.
- of course it doesn’t really matter because the charges have nothing to do w/the McDougal agreement, it’s discussion is purely background.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Bove raises the Jan 6, 2017 meeting that took place in #Trump’s office at TrumpTower w/ #JamesComey, then the #FBI dir, #MikePompeo, soon to be the #CIA dir, #ReincePriebus, soon to be the #WhiteHouse chief of staff, & #SeanSpicer, soon to be the WH press sec.
Bove asks #Pecker about how #Comey & Trump later had a contentious relationship. Prosecutors object, & Bove asks for a sidebar. Justice #Merchan sustains the objection.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference #conspiracy
#Bove’s voice got very sharp as he asked #Pecker about whether Pecker had made an error yesterday when he said #Trump thanked him for his #CatchAndKill of the doorman’s story. “Was that another mistake?” the lawyer asked, loudly. “Do you believe that President Trump said that to you as you sit here right now?”
Bove reminds Pecker that it’s a crime to lie under oath.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Pecker reiterates that #Trump thanked him at the Jan 6, 2017 meeting at Trump Tower, in front of a group of future admin ofcls.
#Bove is suggesting that #Pecker testified inconsistently: in 2018, acc/to #FBI notes, he told agents that Trump had not thanked him at the Jan 6 meeting. That contradicts w/what he said yesterday & again today. Pecker resisted the implication that he contradicted himself but agrees. Bove is satisfied& the jurors are excused for a break.
The jury & judge are back in the courtroom after midmorning break, David #Pecker is on the stand & his #CrossExamination is now resuming.
#Bove is back on cross, #Blanche, another defense lawyer, sits in Bove’s empty seat. Blanche seems intent on flanking #Trump as much as possible.
(Maybe to prod him awake before he starts to drool)
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #NodFarter
#CrossExamination resumes
#Bove asks #Pecker's about his meetings w/prosecutors.
Pecker says they were not "stressful," as #Trump's lawyer suggests, he says he wanted it to be over - who wouldn’t?
The defense presents #AMl's non-prosecution agreement w/SDNY.
Bove suggests AMI was having financial issues at the time - were discussions w/the Hudson News Group to acquire the #NationalEnquirer.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Bove asks, “You knew that to consummate that deal, you had to finalize the investigations, correct?”
#Pecker admits that put some pressure on the negotiations, but says, “From the tabloid's standpoint, that would have added on to the stress of the transaction.” He doesn’t say it put personal pressure on him.
Pecker says, “There was no drop dead date, that it had to be completed by a certain time.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Again the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal is beside the point when it comes to the charges. As I said, its discussion is just background.
#Bove is trying to discredit #Pecker.
Bove asks, “If #AMI had been indicted, that would have affected the value of its assets?”
Pecker says yes but notes that AMI was never charged or prosecuted.
Yesterday, Pecker said, “We admitted to a campaign violation."
Bove notes "there is no violation in this agreement."
"In this agreement, no," Pecker says.
#Bove points out the section of the non-prosecution agreement stating the federal govt "will not criminally prosecute" #AMI.
Asked whether there's mention of a #CampaignFinancial violation in the agreement, #Pecker answers, “No."
Bove tries to get Pecker to say money wasn’t part of the #Trump Tower meeting agreement.
Pecker corrects Bove, “There was a discussion that I was going to be the eyes and ears of the campaign," including notifying #MichaelCohen of women selling stories.
#Pecker says that led to the #HushMoney payoffs to the women.
#Bove has been trying to get him to admit that his testimony contradicted what his attys told the state in 2019. The statement in question concerns the Trump Tower meeting in 2015, in which Pecker agreed to help #CatchAndKill negative stories about #Trump.
Bove said Pecker’s lawyer had told state prosecutors that it was inaccurate that Pecker had agreed, at that meeting, to suppress the stories on Trump's behalf.
But #Pecker clarifies that what his lawyer said in 2019 was simply that he had never offered to buy those stories on #Trump’s behalf. As Pecker reminds us, he instead offered to serve as Trump’s eyes & ears, looking out for negative stories.
Several times now #Bove has tried to catch Pecker in a lie. But Pecker is not going along w/it, he is repeatedly disagreeing w/Bove & fighting back against the attacks. It’s hurting defense more than helping.
#Bove concludes cross, asking Pecker about his obligations in cooperating w/the prosecution at this trial.
#Pecker says, “I’ve been truthful to the best of my recollection.”
Asst DA #Steinglass begins his redirect.
Steinglass asks about #KarenMcDougal's contract & Pecker's testimony that its "true purpose" was to #CatchAndKill her story.
Pecker agrees w/that the purpose of the provisions about McDougal's career was to establish "plausible deniability."
#Steinglass shows #Pecker the provision of #AMI's non-prosecution agreement that reads:
"AMI's principal purpose into entering into the agreement was to suppress the model's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."
Pecker agrees it was true.
Steinglass asks Pecker about a plan to sign over #KarenMcDougal's life rights to #MichaelCohen (it was abandoned)
Exhibit from yesterday detailing the original plan:
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass, the prosecutor, uses defense atty #Bove’s repetition of the phrase “standard operating procedure” against him, as he points out all the parts of the agreement w/ #KarenMcDougal that were not standard. Pecker agrees w/ Steinglass throughout as he asks him these questions, hurting the defense's argument.
Redirect gives Pecker the opportunity to clarify testimony muddled under cross-examination.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass asks #Pecker about the overlap between #NationalEnquirer's readership & #Trump's political base.
“All that base loved reading positive stories about Donald Trump. And when he announced his presidency, going from The Apprentice to running for the president of the United States, our sales increased. Newsstand sales increased,”Pecker says.
Steinglass sums it up as follows, “Running stories about Mr. Trump appealed to your readership.”
Court breaking for lunch till 2:15 PM US ET
#Pecker will be back on the stand when court resumes.
Before leaving, Todd #Blanche, one of Trump's attys, asked Justice #Merchan to direct prosecutors to say who the next #witness would be. One of the prosecutors responded that Susan Necheles, another #Trump lawyer, already knew. Trump leaned over & asked Necheles, “Who is it?” She seems to have responded because he said, “Ah.” Then he got up.
Back from break.
#CrossExamination resumes
#Steinglass asks if #Pecker considers #NationalEnquirer's circulation to include everyone who looks at covers while waiting in supermarket checkout lines.
#Pecker doesn’t.
Steinglass shows Pecker a section of a Nov 4, 2016 WSJ article which reads:
"Quashing stories that way is known in the tabloid world as 'catch and kill.’”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#Pecker says he learned the phrase from the article; weird he didn’t already know it; earlier he testified it was “checkbook journalism”
Re #StormyDaniels' story, Pecker says that he didn’t want #AMI to have anything to do w/a “porn star." (He said this yesterday too)
Pecker said he wasn't going to print it, buy it, or have anything to do w/it.
(Given the rest of the dirt he’s been all too happy to roll around in, it’s an odd line to draw, but he’s adamant)
We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming w/ #BREAKINGNEWS
The people are calling #RhonaGraff!!!
This is big
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder
Rhona Cheryl Graff is #Trump’s many decades-long assistant & the snr VP of the #TrumpOrganization.
She is known as Trump's '#gatekeeper'.
Even after 2016, when he was elected to the White House, #RhonaGraff continued to handle his arrangements outside ofcl WH engagements.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/04/26/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial/8d43098c-421d-584e-8eba-e78d859c0076?smid=url-share
Quickly filling in the end of Pecker’s testimony:
#Steinglass read back to Pecker portions of his testimony from yesterday that #Bove, the #Trump lawyer, questioned earlier.
The testimony relates to Pecker saying Trump thanked him for the #CatchAndKill of stories about #KarenMcDougal & the doorman’s story an illegitimate child.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Steinglass, the prosecutor, asks #Pecker if prosecutors have tried to influence his testimony.
“Absolutely not," Pecker says.
Then, after prompting Pecker to say that prosecutors had only told him to tell the truth, Steinglass concludes his redirect.
When Pecker said this, #Trump chuckled & shook his head.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
David #Pecker is now off the stand.
Susan Hoffinger, one of the proecutors, "The people call #RhonaGraff.”
#Hoffinger, the head of the DA's investigations division, will question #Graff.
Graff was #Trump's assistant at the #TrumpOrganization. Hoffinger, along w/#Steinglass, led the team that convicted Trump's company 2 years ago.
Graff was Trump's primary #gatekeeper for many, many years.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#RhonaGraff says she worked at the #TrumpOrganization for 34yrs. Her understanding was that #Trump owned the company & she worked directly for him.
#Graff says her lawyers are being paid by the #TrumpOrg. This is a running theme w/many witnesses close to Trump - he or his PAC have continued to pay their #legal fees.(#WitnessTampering, #MobTactics)
#MichaelCohen flipped on Trump, partly because the Trump Org stopped paying his legal fees.
Susan #Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is asking #RhonaGraff to verify that she compiled records of various items like emails & contact lists & calendar entries.
Prosecution presents a redacted entry from the #TrumpOrganization's computer system that contains contact information for #KarenMcDougal & “Stormy”
Asked whether she understood #StormyDaniels was an adult film actress, Graff replies: "Yes, I did."
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#RhonaGraff testifies that she saw #StormyDaniels at #Trump Tower, in the waiting area of the 26th floor, where Trump’s office is located.
Susan #Hoffinger, the prosecutor, wraps up. Susan #Necheles is now cross-examining #Graff for the defense.
Trump cracks a small smile as Graff speaks glowingly of her time working for Trump. She says she never had the same day twice & called Trump “fair” as a boss.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
So #RhonaGraff’s testimony not that big of a deal at all. Other than placing #StormyDaniels in #Trump’s orbit.
#BabySquirrel break
Before #Hoffinger wrapped direct, we again heard the name of #HopeHicks, Trump’s spox during the 2016 #TrumpCampaign & in the #WhiteHouse. There was not an apparent reason to reintroduce her, it may be that prosecutors laying foundation for future evidence/testimony in proceedings.
#CrossExamination by #Trump lawyer Susan #Necheles begins:
#RhonaGraff testifies that "99% of the time," discussions w/Trump were related to business.
#RhonaGraff testifies rather sycophantically about the success of “The Apprentice,” calling it THE most popular TV show & saying #Trump acquired “rock-star status.”
Under direct, Graff verified Trump had contact entries for both #KarenMcDougal & #StormyDaniels. Graff also confirmed she saw Daniels at Trump Tower.
Now, #Necheles, Trump's lawyer, suggests that visit by Daniels could have been about appearing on "The Apprentice."
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#Necheles asks #RhonaGraff if she wants to be here or not. Graff says she does not, & indicates that the only reason she's testifying is because she was subpoenaed & the #TrumpOrganization is paying her legal fees.
Graff is done testifying. #Trump stands as Graff is leaving, approaches & touches her hand. Justice #Merchan, stands too, waiting for the lawyers to come to the bench. Given all the focus on witnesses & Trump interacting w/them, that was weird. The court takes a recess.
After the break, the People call #GaryFarro to the stand as the 3rd #witness.
#Farro was a banker at #FirstRepublic when #MichaelCohen was seeking to arrange the $130k #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels. Cohen, seeking the money, was contacted by Farro's asst.
Rebecca #Mangold will question Farro for prosecution. She’s been on the team several yrs, & typically sits w/Chris #Conroy, another prosecutor, behind the main table.
FYI #FirstRepublicBank no longer exists. It was seized & sold by regulators last yr.
#MichaelCohen’s very direct involvement is now center stage.
Do you know someone named Michael Cohen?” #Mangold asks Farro.
“Yes I do,” Farro replies.
Of note, a 2018 WSJ reported that First Republic Bank filed a #SAR (suspicious activity report) relating to the Cohen money.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyers-payment-to-porn-star-was-reported-as-suspicious-by-bank-1520273701
#GaryFarro says that he was thought of as someone who was good at working w/ “individuals who may be a little challenging,” though he says he didn’t find #MichaelCohen “difficult.” He also comments on Cohen’s apparent excitement to be working for #Trump.
Cohen set up the account in Oct 2016 & funded it from his home equity line of credit. About 2 wks before the 2016 election, he wired the payment to #KeithDavidson, a lawyer for #StormyDaniels.
After the #HushMoney payment became public, #StormyDaniels’s lawyer at the time, #MichaelAvenatti, provided NBCNews w/an email from an asst to #GaryFarro confirming the transfer. #MichaelCohen used his #TrumpOrganization email address.
Acc/to NBC, the email, from Oct 26, 2016, had the subj line, “First Republic Bank Transfer” & confirmed that “the funds have been deposited into your checking account.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Trump is leaning forward, reading an email that is being read into evidence about #GaryFarro missing a call from #MichaelCohen
A lol moment:
Farro testified, “We wouldn't do anything in adult entertainment."
Asked what he meant by that, Farro says, somewhat hesitantly: "Porno?"
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder
#Mangold asks #GaryFarro, “Have you heard the term shell corporation?
Farro: “l have.”
Farro explains what a "shell company" is, agreeing w/prosecution that it's an entity w/o any business operations.
Farro says he was assigned to #MichaelCohen who had been a client at the bank for years before he took over the relationship.
Cohen told Farro that he worked for #Trump
& says he seemed "very excited" about that.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#GaryFarro says that he's testifying, in part, as a custodian of records for First Republic Bank.
Custodial witnesses verify records through #legal procedures that are super boring, & late on a Friday, this will be rough.
Still records are fact evidence.
#RhonaGraff, was also technically a custodial witness,
She authenticated records linking the #Trump Org's records to #StormyDaniels & #KarenMcDougal.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#GaryFarro reads the following email #Trump expressed interest in:
"Please return #MichaelCohen's call when you are available today regarding an important matter”
Farro says that this is about Michael Cohen wanting to open an account for his new LLC.
"He said it was an account for real estate."
Email from Farro on Oct. 13, 2016:
"Need an account opened for Mike Cohen immediately. He wants no address on the checks. Calling you now to discuss."
#Mangold questions #GaryFarro slowly & deliberately. Farro says #MichaelCohen was eager to connect & wanted to open a LLC immediately. Farro opened an account for him & specified that Cohen didn't want addresses on the checks.
The #Trump team already told the #jurors that Cohen is a liar who is out to get revenge. But the witnesses depict him as an anxious man, who would do anything for the boss.
“Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me, he gave me a sense of urgency," Farro testifies.
Adjourned. Thank goodness.
Phew.
Dog & #squirrel call.
(Huh, close as I’ve ever come to actually saying “moose & squirrel”)
Nonilex
Larry Larry, Commentary