#Bove noted #KeithDavidson's use the word “leverage” on the tape, suggesting that he was seeking leverage over #Trump. Davidson denied that & said that Bove is “grossly mistaken about the dates” of when this conversation took place.
The recording was not introduced as evidence in the case so the jury & the observers aren’t hearing it. Davidson is listening on a headset, defense is using it to refresh his recollection about the conversation so Bove can question him about it.
#Bove ends his cross-examination of #KeithDavidson.
Re-direct from prosecutor #Steinglass, who reads through a transcript of Davidson's recorded discussion w/ #MichaelCohen.
Davidson is asked to clarify that Michael #Avenatti, who by then was #StormyDaniels’ attorney, was denying a number of developments.
The discussions between Davidson & Cohen, he testified, were about Avenatti efforts, not coaching Stormy's words.
#Trump #criminal #law #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Prosecutors play a portion of a conversation w/ #KeithDavidson that #MichaelCohen secretly taped.
“Nobody’s thinking about Michael,” Cohen says, referring to himself in the 3rd person.
In the recording Cohen said #Trump hated “the fact that we did it.” Davidson clarifies this in response to the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels — a key piece of evidence, that would seem to corroborate Trump’s knowledge of & involvement in the deal.
#criminal #law #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
On the call, #MichaelCohen said, "What about me? And I can’t — I can't even tell you how many times he said to me, you know, 'I hate the fact that we did it'...& my comment to him was 'but every person you spoke to said it was the right thing to do.'"
After hearing that portion, the prosecutor asked Davidson who was the "he" referred to in the phone call.
"Mr. Trump," Davidson said, “I attributed that to be a quote from Mr. #Trump."
#criminal #law #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove briefly questioned #KeithDavidson again in a recross-examination. He ended it by emphasizing that Davidson had never been in a room w/ #Trump until this week.
"You never spoke to or never were in same room until Tuesday?," Bove asks Davidson.
Davidson said that was correct.
Douglas Daus a senior forensic analyst & audio visual specialist is called as a fact witness.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Per NBC: Daus was in Iraq 2009-2011 doing forensic data analysis; & is now a supervising computer forensic analyst in the DA’s office.
Daus, is expected to assist in verifying records.
DA #AlvinBragg is watching his employee explain the path between a device coming into the office, either through a search warrant or consent, & the actual extraction & preservation of data.
(oosh boring)
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Reminder custodial witnesses like Daus — are tasked w/ verifying & entering records into evidence — because the defense refused to accept anything as basic fact.
In most trials, lawyers agree that certain exhibits should be understood to be true & factual; #Trump’s lawyers consistently refuse to do that, AT ALL, they won’t accept things like this is a table, this is a phone, thus requiring this boring fact verification process.
Daus, who extracted data from #MichaelCohen's cellphones, confirms that Cohen was texting w/ #HopeHicks, who at the time was #Trump’s spox.
A report from Daus shows that one of Cohen’s phones had 39,745 contacts!
A photo of Cohen behind the press secretary's lectern in the #WhiteHouse briefing room is displayed on video screens.
The courtroom is now hearing a recording Cohen secretly made of Trump talking.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
👀 On the recording, #MichaelCohen is talking to #Trump, it sounds like #HopeHicks in the background. Cohen is explaining they had just gotten served by The NYT to unseal records from Trump’s first divorce, from Ivana Trump.
At the end of the tape, Cohen tells Trump,
“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David.”
[The #NationalEnquirer’s David #Pecker]
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
👀 #MichaelCohen says he talked to #AllenWeisselberg, who was the #TrumpOrganization's CFO. Cohen references “the financing,” & #Trump interjects, “What financing?”
The call related to the #HushMoney deal made w/ #KarenMcDougal.
#Jurors are hearing Trump in the OvalOffice discussing a hush-money payment.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Tape Transcript:
“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all that info regarding our friend, David, you know, so that — I'm going to do that right away," #MichaelCohen said. "And I've spoken to #AllenWeisselberg about how to set the whole thing up."
"So, what do we got to pay for this? 150?" #Trump asked.
"...funding. Yes. Um, & it's all the stuff," Cohen said.
"Yea, I was thinking about that," Trump said.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
"All the stuff. Because — here, you never know where that company — you never know what he’s...," #MichaelCohen said.
"Maybe he gets hit by a truck," Trump said.
#Trump then asked about financing & Cohen said, "Well, I'll have to pay something."
"Pay with cash," Trump said.
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
The prosecution has finished, & #Bove, the #Trump defense lawyer, is now cross-examining the forensic analyst custodial witness, Douglas Daus.
Bove asked about his credentials then about the chain of custody of #MichaelCohen’s phones. He is implying that perhaps the data on the phones — including the recording of Trump the jury just heard — might be compromised.
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove is implying that the DA’s office was sloppy in their data extraction & the devices could have been manipulated, asking questions about chain of custody & if the intake process was secure.
Daus was excused, but will be back to testify more tomorrow.
Court adjourned for the day.
Funny from NYT’s Maggie Haberman:
#Trump left the courtroom, squinting strangely at Lawrence O’Donnell, the MSNBC host, as he did.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Today’s #TrumpTrial testimony 🧵
Friday, 3 May, 2024
Custodial witness, Doug Daus, a forensic analyst in the Manhattan DA’s office will continue to testify about obtaining audio from the phones of #MichaelCohen, #Trump’s former fixer.
Yesterday’s 🧵: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/112371669216262634
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
#TrumpTrial 🧵 Thurs, May 2 charges are falsifying business records to hide #HushMoney payments in lead up to 2016 election to #influence electorate just one Trump supporter at the courthouse draped in a Trump flag. #StormyDaniels's lawyer, #KeithDavidson, to return to stand. He negotiated the hush-money payment at the center of the case, & is expected to lay out details of the deal. #criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #KarenMcDougal
Reminder — each day’s complete court transcript is being posted on the NY courts website.
Direct link to the #TrumpTrial transcripts:
https://pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTrump-71543/transcripts/
#criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
Justice #Merchan is on the bench &addressing something that #Trump said outside court yesterday, when he claimed that he could not testify because of the #GagOrder.
The comment left many people confused, & it wasn’t clear if Trump was simply making an excuse for not testifying, or if he misspoke. But Justice Merchan is informing him that the statement was incorrect. The gag order “does not prohibit you from taking the stand” or limit what he can say, the judge says.
After Justice #Merchan explained #Trump’s freedom to speak as a #witness, he concluded, “please let your attorney know” if you have any more questions. Note that Todd #Blanche, the lead defense #lawyer, nodded along when Trump made the comments in question outside the courtroom yesterday.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
This morning, when speaking to cameras inside the courthouse, #Trump said #Merchan was trying to take away his constitutional rights.
He said his team will file a lawsuit today challenging the #GagOrder’s constitutionality
He railed against DA #AlvinBragg & Merchan, saying they're corrupt & a "disgrace to this country"&"this court."
"It's a cabal going on, by the way,"Trump said, adding they're trying to get Biden re-elected. [#ConspiracyTheory #QAnon]
#Blanche, #Trump's lawyer, is arguing about how a #WashingtonPost article should be discussed at the #TrumpTrial today.
He says he expects a witness to testify today about how the #AccessHollywood tape affected his 2016 campaign.
That appears to be a reference to #HopeHicks, who is expected to begin her testimony today.
Blanche is describing a Truth Social post made by Trump as an “alleged” post, a reminder that the defense has refused to stipulate basic facts in the case repeatedly.
The lawyers are arguing about the #AccessHollywood tape & how it can be introduced.
It’s hard to imagine anyone who isn’t familiar with what #Trump says on the tape, even the jurors.
Justice #Merchan, who has allowed evidence related to the tape, will not let it be heard or watched in court, because he thinks it would be too #prejudicial.
Merchan is displaying his judicial fairness here, despite what Trump, #RightWingMedia & #MAGA claim.
Custodial witness Doug Daus forensic analyst is sworn back in to continue testimony.
Jury returns.
Questioning resumes.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
#Bove, #Trump defense lawyer, is asking Daus questions about *disappearing* message apps on #MichaelCohen’s phone.
Daus explains how law enforcement extracts info from a person’s phone. It’s straightforward w/things like text messages, but w/ apps, like Signal, have “self-destruct” functions that delete messages in seconds.
Bove also asks Daus basic tech stuff, which may just be delay tactic by way of stretching out the trial & an attempt to distract from other testimonies.
#Bove is trying to attach tech issues to the argument that #MichaelCohen can’t be trusted, “We would have to take Michael Cohen’s word for whatever happened in October 2020 with respect to this phone, right?”
Reportedly Daus gave an expression of surprise to this question. I mean he does forensic tech analysis, he’s like: no, I say what’s there, I don’t say stuff’s there that I can’t confirm.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
During this technical dry testimony, #Trump again appears to be sleeping.
Trump tried to spin this Thurs afternoon in a post to Truth Social:
“I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!”
However, SEVERAL people in his world have confirmed privately that he has been sleeping in court.
.#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
Cross-examination ended
Redirect by prosecutor #Conroy.
On re-direct, Conroy is asks questions that mock #Bove’s cross, implying to the jury that Bove's line of questioning was BS.
Some questions:
“I take it you’re not a friend of Michael Cohen’s?”
“Is it unusual for a phone to be used?”
[Making fun of Bove’s basic #tech questions]
Public in the overflow room reportedly got what Conroy was doing & laughed at the questions & answers
Redirect is over & #Trump atty #Bove returns to question Daus again to clarify his cross-examination arguments, saying he was asking about “unknowns” — “gaps in the handling of this data that created risks” for tampering.
Prosecutor #Conroy returns to ask Daus another question in a 2nd re-redirect.
This is a lot of questioning & requestioning for a custodial witness.
Justice #Merchan calls a sidebar hopefully to get these folks to tighten up their questioning.
Georgia Longstreet, the next witness, is a paralegal who monitors social media postings at the Manhattan DA’s office. She will be questioned by prosecutor Rebecca #Mangold.
This is another #CustodialWitness — again only necessary because #Trump’s legal team refused to agree on basic #facts prior to trial.
“Can you briefly describe how #Twitter works?” is a question 🙄.
#AlternativeFacts #Gaslighting #Propaganda #criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Longstreet’s testimony, including a description of the #WaybackMachine, which archives old online postings, is a good primer on #socialmedia basics, for folks who need it, may be necessary for some #jurors, I think during voir dire one said they used a flip phone & had never “seen a podcast”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
Longstreet testified that as part of her work, she has reviewed 5k - 10k #socialmedia posts (poor thing) about the case & saved 1,500 of them.
She added that she checks online sources multiple times a day, including news articles & posts on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook & Truth Social.
She said she takes screenshots of the posts, adds them to a folder & saves them w/a few words to identify each one.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Trump defense finally agreed to stipulate to a piece of #evidence — a WaPo article about the #AccessHollywood tape — w/o questioning a witness about it.
The agreement, called a stipulation, was read aloud to the jury & Justice Merchan explains the concept to the jury (for the 1st time bc Trump team hasn’t yet agreed on fact evidence hence the custodial witnesses).
Merchan tells the jury that a #stipulation is info the parties have agreed to w/o the need to call a witness.
Prosecutors play a video #Trump put out right after the #AccessHollywood tape was made public. He acknowledged in the video that he made the comments on the tape. The video statement was recorded after he had earlier refused to apologize, though his aides told him to.
“I’ve said some foolish things, but there’s a big difference between the words & actions of other people,” Trump says in the video, then he attacks Hillary & Bill Clinton.
Prosecutors enter a series of tweets into #evidence:
Trump attacking Senator John McCain
Trump insisting he never inappropriately touched 2 women who claimed he had
Trump complaining he’d lost female supporters, all from 2016
Defense lawyers fought the admission of these tweets.
Georgia Longstreet describes the posts from the stand.
There’s now a TruthSocial post from March 2023 in which Trump, in colorful terms, denies an affair w/ #StormyDaniels.
The evidence appears designed to lay out #Trump’s tendency to lie, his vulnerability among female voters, & motives for the cover up.
Trump lawyer #Blanche is now cross-examining Georgia Longstreet, asking her about #MichaelCohen & whether she tracked his #socialmedia as part of her job. She says she followed his tweets & his podcast. Asked if she listened to every episode of the podcast, Longstreet responds “absolutely not,” getting a big laugh in the courtroom.
Blanche implies that someone else is writing Trump’s social media posts, the ones Trump posts under his handle on a website that he routinely tells people is the “true voice of America.” lol 😂
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
The people call #HopeHicks, Matthew #Colangelo, one of the prosecutors, says.
She is visibly uncomfortable. She is testifying under subpoena. She says she's "nervous.”
Hope Hicks refers to #Trump as “Mr. Trump.” Notably, she says she’s paying for her own lawyer. She says the last time she spoke to Trump was summer or fall of 2022.
That was around the time when text messages she exchanged w/a colleague criticizing the #Jan6 attack were made public.
Prosecutor #Colangelo begins questioning #HopeHicks about participating in key meetings.
Hicks acknowledges that she was frequently involved, going in & out of Trump’s office.
Hicks calls #Trump “a very good multitasker & a very hard worker.” 💨🍑
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
#HopeHicks continues flattering her old boss, saying that the #TrumpOrganization was big & successful, but run “like a small family business.” Because of that, she says, “Everybody that works there in some sense reports to Mr. Trump.”
This is good for prosecutors showing #Trump personally ran his affairs; Hicks can come off as praising him while simultaneously harming him.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
#HopeHicks is asked about #KeithSchiller, who was #Trump’s longtime bodyguard. Schiller is a fmr NYPD detective.
Hicks is asked about others who were in Trump's close circle, such as the #TrumpOrganization's fmr CFO, #AllenWeisselberg, & Trump’s assistant, #RhonaGraff.
Trump’s eyes are glued onto Hicks as she begins her testimony. This is the most alert he’s been since the trial started.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #NodFarter
Colangelo keeps asking #HopeHicks to acknowledge that #Trump oversaw every aspect of her job: “I reported to Mr. Trump” & “Mr. Trump was responsible” are two things she’s just said. Again, this is key for prosecutors, showing that Trump is a hands-on manager — & hoping to convince the jury he would have taken the same hands-on approach as #MichaelCohen brought him news of negative stories to quash.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#HopeHicks is emphatic when asked if she checked w/ #Trump before issuing statements about him. “Absolutely,” she says.
Hicks testified that when she began working for Trump in 2015 during his first campaign, the media team consisted of only the 2 of them.
"It was just me & Mr. Trump," Hicks said.
She went on to say that later in the general election there was a larger staff that dealt w/phone calls & other needs around the office.
#HopeHicks is testifying in detail how #Trump praised David #Pecker, then the publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, after the tabloid ran a story saying one of his #GOP presidential rivals, Dr. Ben Carson, had left a sponge in a young girl’s brain. “Mr. Trump was congratulating him on the great reporting,” she recalls. “This is Pulitzer-worthy,” Hicks says she recalls him saying.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Asked to describe the #NationalEnquirer article attack on #TedCruz’s father, #HopeHicks looks like she is going to laugh: “His father may have been involved with Lee Harvey Oswald” — the man who shot John F. Kennedy — “or something like that.”
Hope Hicks is now being questioned about the “#AccessHollywood” tape & her expression is no longer jovial. She swallows hard & says that yes, she was familiar.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#HopeHicks is shown an email that reporter David Fahrenthold sent her on 7 Oct, 2016, seeking comment on the #AccessHollywood tape. The email contained a transcript of what was said on it.
“I was concerned. Very concerned.…I was concerned about the contents of the email, I was concerned about the lack of time to respond, I was concerned that we had a transcript but not a tape. There was a lot at play.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#HopeHicks is then shown a copy of her email forwarding the message to to “campaign leadership.” The email went to, among other people, Kellyanne Conway & Steve Bannon.
In it, she says: “Need to hear the tape to be sure,” & “Deny, deny, deny.” She describes it to prosecutor Colangelo as a “reflex.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter #GagOrder #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal
#HopeHicks says that when she shared the email from The Washington Post w/ #Trump, one of his initial reactions was to say that his comments about assaulting women “didn’t sound like something he would say.” [he later admits it was him, so = liar]
Hicks says she went to conference room to discuss #AccessHollywood tape & Trump came to see what was happening:
"Everyone was just absorbing the shock of it."
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
The prosecution played the video #Trump recorded on 7 Oct, 2016, when he acknowledged that he’d said the words on the #AccessHollywood tape & apologized.
Months after being elected, Trump was telling people the tape was a fake.
If a tape came out today, there’s no doubt that Trump would claim it was AI & his voters would believe him. It’s impossible to imagine him apologizing now.
2024 ≠ 2016
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#HopeHicks testified that the media response to the #AccessHollywood tape was “intense” & that it “dominated coverage.” She recalled that a Category 4 hurricane was anticipated to make landfall at that time but she doesn’t think anyone remembers where or when the hurricane landed. “It was all #Trump all the time for the next 36 hours,” she said.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#HopeHicks testified that she thought that the #AccessHollywood tape was going to be a massive story that would dominate the news cycle for at least the next several days.
She said it was a “damaging development” for the campaign, w/lots of layers that “complicated where we were trying to go in a way that was going to be hard to overcome.”
“There was consensus among us all that the tape was damaging & that this was going to be a crisis," she said.
👀👀👀
#HopeHicks says she called #MichaelCohen to make sure there wasn't ANOTHER tape.
She says she asked Cohen to “chase down a rumor,” she says, about another tape he had heard about that could be problematic for the campaign. This could be the beginning of hearing what Hicks has to say about the. #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels, which was made by Cohen & where the charges against #Trump stem from.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Prosecutor: Did you become aware of reports regarding #Trump's behavior w/ women?
#HopeHicks: After the tape yes.
Hicks confirms she first heard about additional stories at a 15 Oct rally.
Hicks says she first heard #KarenMcDougal's name when she got an inquiry from the WSJ on 4 Nov, 2016.
Hicks says she heard about #StormyDaniels a YEAR before WSJ story.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#HopeHicks says she heard #KarenMcDougal's name in an email from the WSJ on 4 Nov, 2016 saying:
She told #Trump, & forwarded to #JaredKushner because he had a good relationship w/ #RupertMurdoch.
"We need comment as soon as possible..."
Kushner said he couldn’t reach Murdoch so she reached out to #MichaelCohen because she knew he had a relationship w/ David #Pecker.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#HopeHicks re the email to #JaredKushner:
she said, bc of Kushner’s good relationship w/ #RupertMurdoch — who owned the WSJ— maybe he could “buy a little extra time to deal with this.” Kushner responded that “he wasn’t going to be able to reach Rupert & we should just work on responding & dealing with it.”
The first question asked in the email: “Did Mr. #Trump have an extramarital affair w/ #KarenMcDougal?”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#StormyDaniels was also going to be mentioned in the WSJ artice, #HopeHicks testifies, & says that she spoke not only to #MichaelCohen about Daniels's claims, but to #Trump too.
This fits w/ the banker’s testimony & Daniels’s lawyer’s testimony about Cohen becoming increasingly frantic in seeking to quiet Daniels once they knew a reporter was on the trail of the story.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#HopeHicks said she worked w/ #MichaelCohen on a stmnt in response to WSJ's story on #KarenMcDougal & the #NationalEnquirer
Hicks wrote things like,“We deny each & every accusation”
Cohen’s version:
"These accusations are completely untrue & just the latest despicable attempt by the liberal media & the Clinton machine to distract the public from the FBI’s ongoing criminal investigation into Secretary Clinton & her closest associates” acc/to a court exhibit of the email
#HopeHicks is expected to return to the stand soon to resume her testimony. She likely won’t be up there much longer today.
Friday’s #TrumpTrial will adjourn around 3:45PM ET US due to a juror having an appointment.
So it is likely Hicks will be back on the stand Monday not only for cross, but possibly for further direct.
#criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter
#TrumpTrial resumes
#HopeHicks continues her testimony, she says she denied that #Trump had a relationship w/ #StormyDaniels to The WSJ.
Prosecution asks if she witnessed conversations between Trump & #MichaelCohen
“I believe I heard Mr. Trump speaking to Mr. Cohen shortly after the story was published,” she says.
If prosecutors can show the Cohen-Trump relationship, it’ll be easier to convince jurors that Cohen was doing Trump’s bidding & not acting on his own as defense is arguing.
#HopeHicks explains how the Trump campaign responded to the story about #KarenMcDougal, who was paid $150k + work by #AMI the parent company of The #NationalEnquirer as #HushMoney.
Hicks says that she was told by #Trump that he had not had an affair w/ McDougal, but that she did not remember him “verbatim” saying that he had no knowledge of that hush-money deal.
This is testimony of a lie shared w/the media & public.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Prosecution introduces texts between #HopeHicks & #MichaelCohen on 4 Nov, 2016, after the WSJ article about #Trump’s affairs w/ #KarenMcDougal & #StormyDaniels was published.
Texts show Cohen repeatedly & urgently asking Hicks for an updates.
In the texts, Cohen is monitoring how other outlets are picking up the WSJ story.
When Cohen mentions how little coverage the story was getting, Hope replies to Cohen, “Keep praying!! It’s working!”
One text from #MichaelCohen to #HopeHicks is particularly damaging to #Trump:
Cohen says he’s got a denial from #StormyDaniels, whom he calls “Storm,” but is holding it in reserve.
Hicks says Trump was very concerned about the WSJ story about his affairs & the #HushMoney payments. He was worried about his wife’s reaction & asked Hicks to make sure newspapers weren’t delivered to their residence.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Prosecutor Colangelo asked further about Trump’s reaction to the WSJ article, specifically if #Trump was concerned about the campaign.
#HopeHicks acknowledged that Trump was concerned about that & asked her how the story “was playing” — given this was only a few days before the election.
The testimony about Melania is what the Trump defense will seize on. It provides an alternative motive for the cover up.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex