#TrumpTrial Friday 10 May 2024 🧵:
Madeleine #Westerhout testimony resumes
A fmr White House aide who worked closely w/ #Trump returned to the stand to testify about a significant meeting between Trump & #MichaelCohen his personal lawyer that is at the center of Trump’s #criminal trial.
Cohen is expected to testify Monday.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #GagOrder #StochasticTerrorism #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal #NodFarter
#Westerhout, described on Thurs setting up an #OvalOffice meeting in Feb 2017 between #Trump & his fixer, #MichaelCohen, where prosecutors say they discussed a #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels, a porn star who said she had sex w/ Trump in 2006 at a hotel in Lake Tahoe, NV. Cohen paid her $130k to stay silent about the liaison in the days before the 2016 presidential #election, & falsified business records to further hide it.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
When #Trump entered the courtroom, he carried a sheaf of printouts w/him which he slammed down on the defense table. His lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, laughed & grinned. Apparently Trump likes to read through [only positive] news clips & social media posts during long stretches in court. The printouts come courtesy of his aide Natalie Harp, who is never far from Trump’s side & usually sits 2 rows back in the courtroom.
#Trump’s other advisers have nicknamed Harp “the human printer” because she travels around w/a portable printer so that she can quickly produce mood-boosting articles for Trump to read. She has also been spotted running after Trump’s golf cart on the golf course so that he can read things between holes.
#Westerhout who worked for #Trump in the #WhiteHouse is back on the stand. Trump atty #Necheles —whose day ended yesterday w/the judge harshly criticizing her, saying she did not object as she should have to some of #StormyDaniels’s testimony— is back questioning this witness.
The prosecutors called Westerhout to testify about Trump’s behavior once in the WH, specifically whether he met w/ #MichaelCohen & how he dealt w/checks.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Defense lawyers have sought to use #Westerhout's testimony for their purposes, asking her about her experience during the 2016 campaign. She didn’t testify about that period for the prosecution much — but the defense clearly thinks her knowledge of the campaign could be helpful.
#Trump atty #Necheles is seeking to use Westerhout's testimony to suggest that Trump & #AllenWeisselberg may not have spoken much in 2017, when the alleged falsification of business records occurred.
Prosecutors say that #AllenWeisselberg, the fmr CFO of the #TrumpOrganization, designed the specific way that #MichaelCohen would be reimbursed for the #HushMoney payment he made to #StormyDaniels. #Weisselberg worked in coordination w/ #Trump, prosecutors say. #Necheles is trying to cast doubt on that.
We are starting to see the “blame it on Allen Weisselberg” defense.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Trump’s vanity & actual (despite his “enemy of the people” propaganda) affection for the #NewYorkTimes front page is front & center as the defense displayed a photo depicting then-President Trump saluting on a tarmac — though the article it accompanied is not flattering — the headline: “#Tax Plan Sows Confusion As #Border Tensions Soar.”
Nonetheless, #Westerhout testifies that Trump sent copies of it to many people, indicating he liked the photo (& probably didn’t read it)
While #Westerhout is testifying about Trump’s travel schedule, #Trump has been glancing down to read his printed puff pieces.
Part of the reason aides supply Trump w/these articles during trials — & they did it at his civil fraud trial last year as well — is to keep him occupied during the proeedings.
#Necheles is now again trying to suggest there were things happening in the chain of custody of mail sent to Trump that would have been out of Westerhout’s view.
The prosecutor #Mangold is now doing something we haven’t seen in this trial so far. She is questioning the witness’s knowledge of an #exhibit that the defense wants in #evidence.
This kind of questioning is also known as voir dire, a phrase more familiar during jury selection. Prosecutors want to make sure Westerhout can testify truthfully about this evidence.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
The defense lawyer #Necheles is steering the witness, #Westerhout, toward describing the mailing arrangement for #Trump in the WH as a system that was set up merely to get mail to him quickly. She is seeking to suggest that there was nothing nefarious about it.
Necheles asks whether there was a similar set-up in previous presidential admins as well. Westerhout says that she doesn’t have personal knowledge about this but adds: “I can’t imagine it would have been any different.”
#Necheles is now taking up a second, familiar defense line, asking #Westerhout to describe #Trump as a multi-tasker who did not pay close attn while signing checks.
Overall, Necheles is seeking to cast doubt on the narrative the prosecution sought to establish yesterday: That Trump kept a close eye on private financial matters even while at the WH, & — in an unusual move — kept the checks out of the normal flow of WH mail by sending them to underlings.
#Westerhout testifies #Trump would sign checks while on the phone or in meetings.
#Necheles gets Westerhout to say that Trump felt strongly that he needed to get back to people quickly & was frustrated w/the slow pace of the mail in the WH. He found it disrespectful to friends who were trying to reach him — implying that the workaround to the WH’s mail — used for #HushMoney reimbursement — was not designed to conceal illegality, but bc he wanted to promptly responding to mail.
Importantly, #Necheles’s is again not addressing the #criminal charges #Trump faces — the fact that there was a system in place that maybe was about getting Trump his mail promptly — or suggesting that #Westerhout couldn’t see everything he was doing, or all the places checks/mail may have gotten to — all of it, unrelated to the actual charges.
While they only may suggest that there could be some alternate explanation for events, they never say what that explanation is.
Trump atty #Necheles turned to the subject of #StormyDaniels. #Westerhout testifies that the “whole situation” w/Daniels was “very unpleasant.”
But she does not seem to go where Necheles was hoping she would. Necheles asked if #Trump brought up his family in relation to Daniels's claims, but Westerhout said that he did not.
This is important because defense is seeking to suggest that Trump was motivated to pay #HushMoney because of concerns about his family, not the election.
#Mangold, the prosecutor, questions #Westerhout again during re-direct, & suggests that her actual knowledge about the reaction to the #AccessHollywood tape was nonexistent because she wasn't working for #Trump at the time.
👀🚨 Westerhout admits that she spoke to the defense lawyer #Necheles 2 nights ago. Another indication that she is trying to be a helpful witness to the defense.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Briefly, as she concluded re-direct, #Mangold sought to show the #jury that #Westerhout was a #Republican loyalist, noting that her current boss, too, is a veteran of the #Trump admin.
Westerhout finished testifying.
The next witness, #DanielDixon, is from #Florida. He will be questioned by the prosecutor #ChrisConroy. Dixon testifies that he is an #ATT employee, & that he is a lead compliance analyst at the company. He’s done that work for 6-7 yrs.
#DanielDixon is another #CustodialWitness — a fact verification role to authenticate phone records.
Dixon, an #ATT employee, is a reminder that every call & text we send leaves an electronic trail.
After a brief cross-examination, Dixon is done.
The next witness is #JennieTomalin who works for Verizon, another custodial witness.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Prosecution presents a page from #AllenWeisselberg’s phone records.
#JennieTomalin mentioned the names of 2 people who factor into the case: #Weisselberg, the #TrumpOrganization's fmr CFO, & #KeithDavidson, #StormyDaniels's fmr lawyer.
Tomalin testimony concluded.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Before the morning recess, the defense sought to exclude an interview w/ #LarryKing from 1999 where #Trump said he had extensive knowledge of #CampaignFinanceLaw. Emil #Bove, one of Trump's lawyers, said finance #law had changed since that interview. #Mangold, one of the prosecutors, argued that the “defendant’s admission that he had extensive knowledge of campaign finance law is relevant.”
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#GeorgiaLongstreet, a paralegal at the Manhattan DA's office who reviews #SocialMedia posts as part of her role, is on the stand. #Longstreet testified about Trump’s social media posts once before during this trial.
#Trump has been hunched over the defense table reviewing & writing on papers in front of him. He only looked up at Longstreet when she started reading his tweets.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#GeorgiaLongstreet is reading a series of #tweets from #Trump, many of them attacks on #MichaelCohen. She just read a post in which Trump unfavorably compared Cohen — who made the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels & is expected to testify starting Monday — to #PaulManafort, who pleaded #guilty to #crimes & was sentenced to 7 years in #prison but was #pardoned by Trump while he was still in office.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#GeorgiaLongstreet is now guiding the court thru a series of texts from 2016 between #DylanHoward, who was the editor of The #NationalEnquirer, & Gina Rodriguez, who was #StormyDaniels’s manager.
The texts show that reps for The Enquirer & Rodriguez were in conversation for months about Daniels’s story. This suggests that The Enquirer was monitoring the story, as its publisher, David #Pecker, said he had promised #Trump he’d do.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
In these texts, Gina Rodriguez tells Dylan Howard that #StormyDaniels had sex w/ #Trump/ It is another piece of #evidence presented by the prosecutors that matches Daniels's story — a story that Trump denies.
2016 texts between Daniels' manager & the #NationalEnquirer's Howard:
"Stormy Daniels was his mistress"
"She doesn't want to go on record... will tell the story through a source..."
"I'm trying to get Keith here on Monday on something so standby. Will know tomorrow. Keep that between us."
More texts from #GeorgiaLongstreet’s testimony
Daniels' manager texts #NationalEnquirer #DylanHoward Oct 2016:
Rodriguez: "not doing the trump deal"
Howard: "Keith gave me a heads up. What
happened?"
Rodriguez: "They didn't pay..."
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
More from #GeorgiaLongstreet’s testimony
Prosecutors showed another text from #StormyDaniels' manager to #NationalEnquirer’s #DylanHoward:
“I blew a gasket at his people..."
Longstreet spoke about the long negotiations between Daniels’s reps & The Enquirer over the #HushMoney deal. Eventually, The Enquirer's editor, Dylan Howard, alerted #MichaelCohen.
The texts delved into the amounts that Daniels’s reps were asking for, originally $250k but it was haggled down.
The direct examination of #GeorgiaLongstreet is over.
Now Todd #Blanche, one of #Trump's lawyers, is cross-examining Longstreet.
Defense asks about #MichaelCohen's #TikTok account.
Blanche asks if Longstreet has reviewed Cohen’s TikTok account. Blanche doesn’t ask anything further clearly not seeking to get Longstreet to actually address the TikToks, but to get the jury wondering about them.
Longstreet is off the stand.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Jaden Jarmel-Schneider is expected to be our final witness of the day. Like Longstreet, he is a paralegal at the Manhattan DA’s office.
#JarmelSchneider tells jurors he was involved in the extraction of data from #MichaelCohen’s phone.
After explaining his work, the witness is now certifying specific exhibits: calls between various witnesses, including #MichaelCohen & #Trump. They are then offered into #evidence, & are accepted.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Some records being entered into evidence today involve calls made by or to #MichaelCohen who is expected to take the stand Monday.
Prosecution displays a comprehensive chart of the 34 business records #Trump falsified. There are 11 invoices, 11 vouchers & 12 checks, all relating to the reimbursement of Cohen — all of the documents laid out on a single screen.
These went by quickly during testimony, prosecutors are using #JarmelSchneider's testimony to highlight them.
#Trump atty Emil #Bove cross-examines #JarmelSchneider. He tries to win the witness over, first by asking him how he prefers to be addressed & then expressing sympathy as he acknowledges that a paralegal's work can be boring.
Jarmel-Schneider isn't biting, saying he enjoys his work.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
@Nonilex The moments, when lawyers, prosecutors & the people are not witnessing Trump's confessions & retarded fantasy-focused inability to STFU are getting less & less.
Advantage to justice & judiciary.
#RuleOfLaw #Law #JusticeMatters #AccountabilityMatters #Trump #DefraudingAmerica #SellingOutAmerica
@Nonilex in the juries I have been on reasonable doubt meant the defense offered a plausible scenario for what might have happened, for like 100 things with no unifying storyline except that #Trump is a wonderful family man who never would have made #hushmoney payments.
Sounds a bit like 18.5 minute gap ala #Nixon Rose Mary Woods on steroids. Not plausible, not believable. Smoke and mirrors.
Nonilex
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