16/ Pagliery:
Effective lawyering from the DA's office. Necheles tries to bring up Trump's 2016 GOP candidate travel schedule, but prosecutor Becky Mangold interjects & questions Westerhout.
Turns out her lawyer just showed them to her this morning. Judge stops it from entering evidence.
17/ Press:
#WompWomp
👉🏼Justice Merchan: The motion to introduce this into evidence is denied.
Trump's lawyer Necheles: You were asked about how checks were sent, right?
Westerhout: Yes.
18/ Bower:
Now Necheles asks Westerhout about the process of getting the checks to Trump.
Sending things to the White House were slow, right? Yes.
There was lots of security? Yes.
You found out that some of his personal items sent to the White House were never received? Yes.
19/ Bower:
With this line of questioning, Necheles is trying to tell the jurors that there are other reasons why Trump's personal mail--the checks--would be sent to Keith Schiller or John McEntee instead of the White House.
20/ Bower:
So it was a way to get items quickly to Trump? Yes.
Was it your understanding that getting items promptly to the president of the United States was a problem for previous administrations? I don't have knowledge of that, but I can't imagine it would be any different.
21/ Press:
Necheles: You didn't give packages to Ivanka Trump?
Westerhout: I didn't.
Bower:
If Trump had time, he would sign the checks? Yes if he had time and if he was in the office.
And he had a tremendous amount of things to sign? Yes.
Would you see him signing things without reviewing them? Yes.
You saw him sign checks without reviewing? Yes.
22/ Press:
Trump's lawyer Necheles: He signed a lot of things. He felt if people were getting his signature they should get his real signature, right?
👉🏼Justice Merchan: Sustained. Stricken from the record.
Necheles: He signed checks while on the phone?
Westerhout: Yes.
23/ Leave it to Pagliery:
Westerhout is being quite the friendly witness for the former president, happily agreeing with Necheles' descriptions of him being a very busy man who multitasked all day, signed everything by hand, and couldn't possibly read everything he signed.
25/ I'm back, and Mr. Blowdry has waved the white flag again.
Catching you up now via this handy copy/paste from thread reader!
26/ Via Bower from the above recap:
Good news for the reporters who are shivering in the overflow room: The prosecution says it only has two more witnesses today, and they will be relatively brief. So we expect to wrap up with today's witness testimony by lunchtime (around 1 pm).
27/ And this from Bower recap:
The next witness is Georgia Longstreet, America's favorite paralegal, who is back to provide testimony on Donald Trump's social media usage.
We see a Trump post on Twitter form April 21, 2018, in which he says that a "third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunky who don't speak to," is going out of her way to destroy Michael Cohen in the hopes that he will "flip."
28/ Bower:
Another Trump tweet from August 22, 2018 (after Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges):
"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!"
(Not bad advice, actually!)
29/ re "damning posts", Pagliery:
She also read these out loud. Keep in mind, NYT reporter Maggie Haberman is *in the courtroom.*
The former president's long-running and openly combative relationship with reporters adds a weird dimension to this trial.
30/ Press:
Prosecutor [after showing a tweet praising Paul Manafort for, by contrast, not flipping] Is this a three tweet thread?
Longstreet: Yes. May 3, 2018.
[Thread about NDA payment, "campaign contributions played no part in this transaction"]
Prosecutor: Who redacted these text messages?
Longstreet: I did.
Prosecutor: Please read them?
Longstreet: This is from Gina Rodriguez to Dylan Howard: Stormy Daniels was his mistress... She will talk under two conditions
31/ Bower:
More Trump tweets about Cohen. This one is from May 3, 2018, and it's the tweet in which Trump specifically concedes that Cohen was "reimbursed" for the Daniels payment.
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....
32/ Bower:
The prosecution now instructs Longstreet to read a series of text messages into the record. They are messages between Stormy Daniels' manager, Gina Rodriguez, and the National Enquirer's Dylan Howard.
The texts were previously admitted into evidence: https://pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTrump-71543/Evidence/People/4-30-2024/People's%20171A%20(Howard-Rodriguez%20Texts%204.7.2016-10.26.2016).pdf
33/ All caught up.
This from Josh Gerstein from 20 mins ago:
Trump typically ignores the press as he walks through the courtroom for a break, but just now he leaned over and gave a friendly tap to Fox News personality Judge Jeanine Pirro, who's seated near the aisle
34/ Pagliery:
The paralegal read this one too.
No one laughed, but reading these one after the other comically show just how sharply Trump turned on his former legal adviser.
Great lawyer! What? Never mind!
35/ Press:
Prosecutor: Read these please, from July 31, 2016
Longstreet: Gina R to Dylan H: Whatever happened with the Stormy Daniels interview? Then on August 8, 2016, Call me
Prosecutor: And these?
Longstreet: Dylan H to Gina R: He likely will pay. How much? Gina R: 250K
36/ re: that tweet about Michael Cohen, via Klasfeld::
Recall:
During opening statements, Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche explicitly denied his client reimbursed Michael Cohen.
He claimed they were legal fees.
"President Trump did not pay Mr. Cohen back $130,000. President Trump paid Michael Cohen $420,000."
37/👀 Klasfeld:
Now, the jury has at least three of Trump's admissions to the contrary before them: (1) this tweet, (2) a conflict-of-interest form, and (3) testimony about a court document with such an admission.
38/ Press:
Prosecutor: Please read this from October 8-9, 2016
Longstreet: "$120,000 - sold." Then Dylan H to Gina, I'm at dinner but will forward contract. Gina R to Dylan H, I haven't told them anything accept [sic] what I said yesterday
39/ Klasfeld, who notes the Internet is spotty and interfering with reporting:
Texts between Stormy Daniels' manager Gina Rodriguez and the Enquirer's then-editor in chief Dylan Howard.
On Oct. 25, 2016, they seemed to be angry that Daniels hadn't been paid.
Howard: "I'm not going to burn my lifelong contacts for these fuckers."
40/ Bower:
Blanche is up for cross examination:
You testified that you review thousands of tweets during your social media review? Yes.
Have you done any additional review recently? No.
So you're reviewing Michael Cohen's TikTok? I am not.
He moves to the Howard-Rodriguez texts.
You don't know if what they said is true? No.
You just read what was written on the exhibit? Yes.
Longstreet, a 20-something paralegal, frowns disapprovingly at TFG's lawyer as she responds to his q's
41/ Klasfeld:
On Oct. 26, 2016, Cohen opened up the bank account for his shell company used to obtain a $130,000 home equity loan to wire to Daniels' then-lawyer Keith Davidson.
"Good news I heard," Howard wrote that day.
42/ Pagliery:
There's something to say about a person's martial stance, their general standoffish demeanor.
Longstreet did not come here to play.
When Blanche tries to pry into her work for the DA's office, she seems utterly unamused. She's some 20 years younger than him but owns the space.
43/ Bower:
Blanche is done with his cross examination.
The next witness: Another paralegal!
The competition heats up for the title of America's Favorite Paralegal.
Will David Jarmel-Schneider outshine Georgia Longstreet on the witness stand? Stay tuned.
44/ Klasfeld:
The last witness of the week: Jarden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal for the DA's office.
He's been called to submit a chart illustrating what the phone records show.
45/ Backtracking a minute or so, via Pagliery:
Longstreet monitors social media activity of Trump & related characters.
Blanche tries to equivocate Cohen & Stormy's activities online with Trump. He asks if she monitors them too.
She answers with slight up-speak, acidic vocal fry, the hint of a raised eyebrow.
Yes. (?)
46/ Press:
Paralegal: I reviewed call logs and related records: subscriber information in People's 401. We have a software that works with the data AT&T provides. Verizon records were PDF, trickier
47/ Bower:
Jarmel-Schneider is a 20-something guy with a mop of curly brown hair. He wears a suit and striped tie.
And he's here to talk about reports and summaries he created using the phone records obtained by the DA's office.
48/ Bower:
Schneider talks about excel spreadsheets. And time zones. And how prepared his summaries of the cell records.
As he testifies, Trump sits at the defense table, reading documents, which he occasionally marks with yellow highlighter.
49/ Press:
Prosecutor: Is People's 340 calls between Michael Cohen and David Pecker?
Paralegal: Yes.
Prosecutor: Is People's 349 calls between the Defendant and Michael Cohen?
Paralegal: Yes.
Prosecutor: Move to admit.
Trump's lawyer Blanche: No objection.
Admitted
50/ Klasfeld:
He's been called to submit a chart illustrating what the phone records show.
Once released, this will be an important exhibit.
51/ More fun from Pagliery:
While lanky, tall Jarmel-Schneider prattles off about phone call entries, I'm still thinking about the way Longstreet (who's maybe 24?) used this utterly dismissive tone to bat away questions from Trump's legal team.
She's say "yes" but it sounded like, "yeah, so?"
52/ Press:
Prosecutor: What are People's 1 through 34?
Paralegal: Checks and invoices.
Prosecutor: Move to admit this summary chart.
Trump's lawyer Bove: Objection to this, can we have a sidebar, please
[Sidebar]
54/ Bower:
Prosecution pulled up one of the summaries created by Schneider. It's calls between Cohen and Weisselberg. It shows a series of call between the two, including calls on Oct. 23, 2016, and Oct. 25, 2016. (The full exhibit will be released sometime later today).
55/ LOL, Trump is trying so hard to look like he's doing something important, but he's basically been given busy work to keep him from getting held in contempt again.
Via Press:
[Trump continues flipping through and writing up papers during the sidebar. Then;]
Justice Merchan: We'll resolve your objection as discussed at the bench.
Prosecutor: When we are ready to display the summary chart - People's 350
Bove: As modified, no objection
56/ Klasfeld:
Trump's lawyer Emil Bove cross-examines the witness, asking whether the rather painstaking work of putting vast reams of data together was tedious.
"Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it," the witness says, to laughter.
Bove: "I hear that. Respect." (laughter)
57/ Press:
Trump's lawyer Bove: From 2018, there are about a page and half of calls cut?
Paralegal: I don't know.
Bove: Look at the government's exhibit list of April 16, 2024. Look at 336 and 337 - some pages were deleted - was this after our cross of Davidson?
A: What?
58/ Bower:
Bove questions Schneider about his summaries and the underlying data. He asks if Schneider recalls the "IMEI number" of a particular phone.
Schneider smiles again, but this time his expression seems to
👉🏼say "Are you kidding me?"
"It's like a 20-digit code..." he replies.
59/ Bower:
There are no calls between Hope Hicks and David Pecker reflected in these records, right?
I'm don't think that's correct, but I would need to look at the logs.
At one point, Bove pulls up an exhibit showing a series of IMEI numbers of various phones.
IMEI numbers are associated with a physical phone, right?
👉🏼I think you're displaying the wrong column, Schneider says. But yes, that's right.
👉🏼Laughs in the overflow room.
60/ Press:
Bove: Now CP1 is using another IMEI - do you remember what Mr. Dixon said?
Paralegal: I don't want to contradict him
Bove: Nothing further
61/ Press:
Re-direct
Prosecutor: Why did we shorting the charts?
Paralegal: To incl only what came up at trial. We're pretty well down the road, s...
Pros: Earlier you wanted to explain - what did you want to say?
Paralegal: Mr. Bovay, Bove, sorry, it was AT&T
Prosr: Do people sometimes get a new phone but keep the same phone #?
Paralegal: I do.
Pros: Nothing further
Bove: You're just speculating, right?
Paralegal: The importance of the call is the time stamp.
Bove: The recording cuts off
62/ Pagliery:
Today's testimony ends with a closer look at the AT&T "toll" records that reflect an incoming call that cut off a voice recording Michael Cohen was making of his boss, Trump.
Prosecutors don't have another witness lined up. Jury's getting sent home early for the weekend.
The judge reminding the jury to follow the rules and stay silent about the case when 👉🏼some chatting caught his attention.
👉🏼"Are you done?" he said, annoyed.
Was Trump mouthing off again?
63/ Bower:
Schneider is done. He basically went toe-to-toe with Bove on cross. And he was very endearing.
My editor weighs in on the America's Favorite Paralegal battle: "I love these kids and want to hire them all."
64/ Klasfeld:
That does it for another week of witness testimony in Trump's criminal trial.
Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass says he plans to call two more witnesses:
"I think it's entirely possible that we will rest by the end of next week."
[Me: Monday is Michael Cohen... no idea who the other is]
65/ Looks like more happened in court. Bower:
Bove raises the issue of Weisselberg's absence from the trial.
Specifically, he has an objection regarding evidence that the prosecution intends to admit into evidence at some point. It's the separation agreement between the Trump Org and Weisselberg.
66/ Bower:
The prosecution wants to use it to explain Weisselberg's absence as a witness at this trial.
Bove says it's irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. He says it's being used to impeach a witness who won't testify. And he says that the reason why Weisselberg isn't going to testify for either side doesn't have to do with the separation agreement. It has to do w/ the fact that the DA's office initiated a perjury case against him.
67/ Bower:
Conroy says that the DA's office would be happy to stipulate to the fact that Weisselberg won't be a witness in this case because he's in prison for perjury.
I think that's one way to handle it, Merchan agrees.
But Bove doesn't seemed thrilled about that idea.
68/ Bower:
Justice Merchan: Another way to deal with it would be to try to take some efforts to compel Weisselberg's appearance.
Steinglass: His separation agreement seems to prohibit him from talking to us at the risk of losing 700K severance pay...
Merchan: We could do this out of the presence of the jury. He could have counsel here, but we could put him on the stand and see if he's going to talk or take the Fifth. That will allow me to find that he's unwilling to testify.
69/ Bower:
Bove says that Weisselberg has never been on the DA's witness list. He seems to be arguing that it wouldn't be fair for Weisselberg to suddenly testify when the defense never expected him to do so.
Unclear how Merchan will resolve this, but we move on to the next matter.
70/ Bower:
Blanche steps up to the lectern. He tells Merchan that Cohen has continued to make public statements about the case/about Trump. He wants Merchan to issue an order to restricting Cohen's speech about the case.
Merchan declines this request. Instead, he directs the prosecution to tell Cohen to knock it off, basically.
#WompWomp 👉🏼Trump, hearing this, grimaces in apparent anger.
Moments later, Justice Merchan sweeps out of the room.
We're done for the day.
The lawyers argued about whether or not evidence should be allowed in that relates to #AllenWeisselberg, the fmr #TrumpOrganization CFO, who is currently in #Rikers Island after pleading #guilty to #perjury. The evidence is Weisselberg’s severance agreement which stipulates he will get an extra $2M if he does not cooperate w/any prosecutions of Trump. The agreement would show that he is still waiting to be paid his full severance by the #Trump Org. #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference
Nonilex is showing *extra* severance $$$ not yet paid: "The evidence is Weisselberg’s severance agreement which stipulates he will get an extra $2M if he does not cooperate w/any prosecutions of Trump."
Would make DA's case even stronger?
@GottaLaff Thanks, Laffy 🙂 Hope you have a nice weekend! (And that the house showings go well)
And Happy Mother's Day, a few days early 💜
@Wileymiller Can't. We have open house tomorrow, so that's a day of crazy.
Sunday, hopefully.
@GottaLaff My guess is they offer Trump as the last one on the stand. He’s been whining about not being able to defend himself in court because of the gag order. This would be the perfect chance to set things straight once and for all.
Even if he’s not on the witness stand, the mere suggestion could be important here especially.
NFL quit before you become a complte laughing stock. 🤣
@GottaLaff NFL
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the final question of this toot really comes off as an accusation of evidence tampering? And it comes across as an evidence tampering accusation of evidence during the trial? Or am I misinterpreting the question?
And maybe the paralegal is too? >.<
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