#Steinglass notes that the defense accused #MichaelCohen of stealing for overstating the amount he was owed for paying the technology firm. Steinglass acknowledges that Cohen was wrong to steal. But, he says, “it’s not a defense to a false business records charge that one of the conspirators is also guilty for stealing from another.”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass addresses another problem w/ #Blanche's argument — that he is trying to both say this wasn’t a reimbursement & it was also a legitimate legal expense.
“Their arguments are not necessarily consistent, but they’re passionate,” Steinglass says, about the defense's contradictory arguments at one point they argued #Trump didn’t know about the reimbursement & at another point that he did.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass says #MichaelCohen sells #Trump merch & will continue to, regardless of the outcome of the #TrumpTrial.
He says you can “hardly blame him for making money from the one thing that he has left, which is his knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump phenomenon.”
Steinglass describes Cohen lying to Congress about his dealings w/a Trump project in #Russia. Steinglass says Trump has “chutzpah”—Cohen lied to help Trump, & now Trump is using those lies to undermine Cohen.
#Steinglass telling the jurors something #MichaelCohen has long said about #Trump:
“These guys know each other well. They speak in coded language, & they speak fast.”
Steinglass counters defense's argument that Cohen called Trump's bodyguard, #KeithSchiller, not Trump himself, on the evening of Oct 24. Defense argued that the call was about a teenage prank caller, not about arranging the #HushMoney payment, as prosecutors had said.
#Steinglass starts a timer & pretends to have the exact same conversation, he adds a bunch of asides & silences. He plays the role of Cohen, talking first to #KeithSchiller & then to #Trump.
The call feels loooong. When Steinglass stops the timer, it’s only been ~49 secs, about as long as the call in question.
The point:
#MichaelCohen could have easily talked to both men, as he testified.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass points out #MichaelCohen could have told whoppers about #Trump or attributed far more damaging comments to him. Steinglass says that Cohen didn’t do any of that “because he’s limited by what actually happened.”
#Steinglass reframes Cohen for the #jury. “Michael Cohen was really more of the defendant's #fixer than his #lawyer,” he says, calling Cohen “the guy w/the boots on the ground that could #bully people & #threaten them w/lawsuits.”
#Steinglass asks #jurors to remember that “we didn’t choose #MichaelCohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store.” Then he raises his voice & says that #Trump chose Cohen “for the same qualities that his attorneys now urge you to reject his testimony because of.”
Steinglass adds that Trump chose Cohen “because he was willing to lie & cheat on Mr. Trump’s behalf.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass is making the significant points that this case is not about #MichaelCohen, & that Cohen was exactly what #Trump wanted in a lawyer.
This is always the issue w/cooperating witnesses. As Jonah Bromwich put it, “if you want to know what happens in the gutter, you have to talk to the rats.”
Steinglass reminds jurors that Michael Cohen testified he went to his family who questioned his “blind loyalty” to Trump.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass notes that #MichaelCohen has been consistently describing the events that took place in this case for 6 yrs.
Steinglass moves on from Cohen & turns to the documents prosecutors say were falsified. He displays a chart on the screens in front of jurors but says they don’t have to understand it just yet.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass outlines their theory of the Aug 2015 meeting between #Trump, #MichaelCohen, & David #Pecker, of #NationalEnquirer, in which they agreed to a plot to suppress negative stories about Trump & promote negative stories about his opponents.
Steinglass punctures one of #Blanche’s go-to arguments —that The Enquirer is like all publications & Pecker's arrangement w/Trump wasn’t unusual. There is nothing normal or standard about what the tabloid was doing w/Trump.
#Steinglass addresses #Blanche’s interest in the term #CatchAndKill, drawing a distinction between the phrase & the practice.
Steinglass says while the phrase may not have been used much during the trial, the practice was exactly what had been agreed to, & argues that suppressing those stories amounted to committing a #fraud on American voters, pulling the wool over their eyes “in a coordinated fashion.”
He calls The #NationalEnquirer “a covert arm” of #Trump's campaign.
#Steinglass notes that while NDAs are not inherently #criminal, but they are “indeed illegal when they serve an unlawful purpose.”
#Trump atty #Blanche barely stitched together a story, but tried to distance Trump from the documents & ended by attacking #MichaelCohen.
Steinglass tells a sweeping narrative about a #fraud on the American people, & argues that Americans had the right to determine if they cared that Trump slept w/a porn star while his wife was home w/their new baby.
“This scheme, cooked up by these men, at this time, could very well be what got President Trump elected,” #Steinglass says, concluding the portion of his closing that refers specifically to the #Trump Tower meeting. He moves on to the first of the #HushMoney deals, which involved the #TrumpOrganization doorman who was hawking a story about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass goes back over The #NationalEnquirer’s Pecker’s testimony.
#Pecker came off as a genteel & soft-spoken person who still loves #Trump. And he offered some of the most damaging testimony of the trial.
FYI: criminalizing what Pecker & parent co AMI were doing is not part of the charges.
Steinglass shows how their actions & practices went far beyond what reporters actually do. The details of Pecker’s testimony demonstrate that the aim was to help Trump’s candidacy.
#Steinglass uses the case of the #TrumpOrganization doorman to illustrate a point about looking at testimony in its full context.
#Blanche had noted that #Pecker said he would have printed the doorman's story, about #Trump fathering a child out of wedlock, regardless of whether it was true. But Steinglass shows the jurors that Pecker added that he would have waited until after the election to do so. “Because that was what they agreed to do.”
#Steinglass now talks# about the 2nd of 3 hush-money deals, which involved #KarenMcDougal & was arranged by The #NationalEnquirer. He says that #Pecker & #DylanHoward of The Enquirer & #KeithDavidson, McDougal's lawyer, spoke in code. But you don’t have to be a codebreaker, he says, to understand what they were talking about
Steinglass also notes that the trio was communicating w/ #MichaelCohen, who testified that he had been charged w/keeping #Trump apprised of their progress
Steinglass is highlighting David Pecker’s testimony that he discussed Karen McDougal with Trump. Steinglass says it offered “powerful evidence” of Trump’s involvement in her hush-money deal, and showed he knew about the payment and was actively involved in arranging it.
Steinglass also notes that the testimony does not rely on Michael Cohen in any way.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass notes that after closing the #HushMoney deal w/ #KarenMcDougal, the editor of The #NationalEnquirer did not immediately call his boss. Instead he placed a call to #Trump atty #MichaelCohen, underscoring, again, that The Enquirer was working on Trump's behalf.
We’re over hour 2, & Steinglass has a way to go, this won’t be done today.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass tells the jury that #Pecker was willing to sacrifice his bottom line in service of #Trump’s campaign, & adds that this deal was “the very antithesis of a normal legitimate press function.”
Steinglass shows through call records the degree to which Trump would have had knowledge of the discussions around acquiring #KarenMcDougal’s life rights. Cutting against Blanche’s portrayal of Trump as a dupe who people took advantage of.
#Steinglass plays the recording of the conversation between #MichaelCohen & #Trump discussing the #KarenMcDougal deal in Sept 2016.
Steinglass argues that the conversation shows Trump’s “cavalier willingness” to hide this payoff & “unequivocally shows a presidential candidate actively engaging in a scheme to influence the election.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass resumes after the break w/the release of the #AccessHollywood tape in Oct 2016, & describes #Trump’s comments in that tape as having discussed “grabbing women by the genitals.”
He reminds the jurors that #HopeHicks testified that the news eclipsed that of a Category 4 hurricane on the East Coast.
Steinglass reminds jurors that the “Access Hollywood” tape was “vulgar to say the least” & said that #Trump sought to spin it as “locker-room talk.”
Steinglass describes the #Trump campaign’s reaction to the #AccessHollywood tape, & notes that the Trump campaign responded publicly that his words on the tape were “locker-room talk,” while they were quietly scrubbing the internet for anything that might be damaging to him. He shows that #HopeHicks relied on #MichaelCohen to use his media contacts to fight back against the negative press.
#Steinglass shows the jurors video clips of #Trump himself acknowledging that the “#AccessHollywood” tape & its aftermath could swing a very tight election. “If 5% of the people think it’s true, & maybe 10%,” Trump says in one clip, “we don’t win.”
Steinglass takes jurors through testimony from #HopeHicks describing what a disaster Trump understood the “Access Hollywood” tape to be, because she was “in the room where it happened.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
Now, having painted a picture of just how desperate the #Trump campaign was as it spun the #AccessHollywood tape, #Steinglass reintroduces the jurors to #StormyDaniels (well done Josh).
“During the exact same month that the defendant was desperately trying to sell the distinction between words & actions, he was negotiating to muzzle a porn star who was preparing to go public,” Steinglass says.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
“#StormyDaniels was a walking, talking reminder that Trump was not just words" at a time when Trump was trying to distinguish between his words & both Clintons’ actions, #Steinglass said.
Steinglass notes that Trump had not shown much interest Daniels' story until after the #AccessHollywood tape came out.
He shows phone records w/a huge increase in communications between #KeithDavidson, #DylanHoward, #MichaelCohen & #Trump.
#Trump atty Todd #Blanche, during his closing, tried to convince the jury that the prosecution’s case relied entirely on #MichaelCohen. Josh #Steinglass is taking that argument on directly & indirectly. As he moves through the case’s timeline, showing every piece of documentary #evidence the prosecution has, he is reinforcing just how much does not rely on Cohen, but on the testimony of witnesses who are friendly to Trump & on phone records you can’t dispute.
To believe defense, you’d have to take #Blanche’s word #MichaelCohen went rogue & #Trump was clueless about the #StormyDaniels deal.
Steinglass details calls between #Pecker & #MichaelCohen, w/ #HopeHicks occasionally in the mix, reminding jurors how enmeshed Cohen was & how much he talked to the campaign.
As he takes jurors through the mountain of documentary evidence, he sympathizes, “We don’t need to show all these calls & emails… they’re in evidence if you want to see them.”
#Steinglass needs to show the jurors that the *alleged* #Trump Tower conspiracy between David #Pecker, #MichaelCohen & #Trump involved using “unlawful means” to aid Trump’s election.
Steinglass displays one of the unlawful means, a document called a business information overview that Cohen created as he sought to obtain the cash to pay #StormyDaniels.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass is talking about & showing evidence from 23-25 Oct 2016, a few days from when #MichaelCohen actually sent a #HushMoney payment of $130k to a lawyer for #StormyDaniels.
“There’s this crazy flurry of phone activity among the co-conspirators here,” Steinglass points out, & then rattles off the proper names — Michael Cohen to David Pecker, Pecker to Cohen, Cohen to Keith Davidson — to illustrate just how much phone activity there was over just 30 mins.
On 26 Oct, ONE DAY BEFORE making the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels's lawyer, #MichaelCohen talks to #Trump on the phone twice.
“This is damning, right?” #Steinglass says, using conversational language as he highlights the records.
He argues that Cohen was getting the final sign-off from Trump before he initiated the sequence of financial transactions that would conclude w/him wiring $130k.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
“As part of this process, yet another false business record is created,” #Steinglass says, leaving a trail of potential #UnlawfulMeans that jurors could draw on during deliberations as they seek to determine whether #Trump unlawfully influenced his election victory.
On 27 Oct 2016, the money was sent, & on 28 Oct, just 11 days before the #election, #StormyDaniels signed the NDA.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Steinglass lands his argument by saying that while the sex between #StormyDaniels & #Trump took place in 2006, the payoff wasn’t until 2016 because his concern was NOT his family, as his lawyers have suggested, but the #election.
Though many of Trump’s family members have been staring at their phones throughout this summation, all of them looked up when Steinglass said that.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass now goes into 4 Nov 2016, four days before the election, the day that The WSJ broke a story about The #NationalEnquirer’s deal w/ #KarenMcDougal on #Trump’s behalf.
Steinglass reminds jurors that #HopeHicks sent over a statement for the story on behalf of Trump, & that Trump lied in the statement, saying he didn’t know anything about the Karen McDougal deal. Steinglass says Trump did know about it because he was on tape 2 months earlier talking about it.
#Steinglass:
“And then, on Nov 8, the defendant was elected president.”
He notes that some of the conspiracy’s characters were aware of their roles in #Trump's election. “What have we done?” #StormyDaniels’s atty texted the #NationalEnquirer editor.
Steinglass: “we’ll never know if this effort to hoodwink the American voter” made the difference in 2016. But prosecutors don’t have to prove that it did — they just have to show that Trump was a part of a #conspiracy to aid his victory.
Justice #Merchan thanks the #jurors for their patience & flexibility as he dismisses them for a 20-min break. Then, after they leave the room, he tells the lawyers, “they look pretty alert to me” & says that he will seek to finish closing arguments today — likely sometime in the evening, people are saying 7PM-ish. (My fingers are not thrilled)
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
In the break #Trump posted “BORING!” & “FILIBUSTER” (separately. Also no such thing as filibuster in a court of #law).
#Steinglass says that after the #conspiracy to #influence the election & getting elected, #Trump still had to ensure no one found out “but here’s the problem, #MichaelCohen was out $130k.”
Steinglass says Trump couldn’t just write Cohen a check, & jurors should make no mistake: While Cohen wanted a head pat from his boss, “he also wanted his money back.”
#Steinglass discusses Jan 2017, the month #Trump was inaugurated. He describes a meeting between #MichaelCohen & #AllenWeisselberg who Cohen testified had made the arrangements to reimburse Cohen for the #HushMoney. “Right on the bank statement, Weisselberg & Cohen calculated all the money that was owed to Cohen,” Steinglass says.
[this IS literal. The notes are written by hand on the wire transfer statement, #exhibit35]
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass highlights #MichaelCohen’s testimony implicating #Trump in the charged #crimes. He shows jurors, using highlighted transcript pages, Cohen’s testimony that Trump not only approved the arrangement but was aware that the reimbursements would be classified as payments for #legal services.
Steinglass reminds jurors of the key role #AllenWeisselberg played for Trump. Weisselberg worked for Trump's father, #FredTrump, at the original #TrumpOrganization.
#Steinglass refers to exhibits that #JeffreyMcConney, a longtime loyal #Trump employee, testified about: #AllenWeisselberg’s notes setting up the repayments.
Steinglass refers to these exhibits as “the smoking guns” of the prosecution’s argument, saying they “completely blow out of the water the claim the money paid to Cohen” was for legal services.
(see above exhibit 35)
link:
https://ww2.nycourts.gov/press/index.shtml
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass is now focused on the“gross-up” of the amount that #MichaelCohen was paid for tax purposes. Legitimate legal fees are not “grossed up.”
Steinglass reminds the jury that #JeffreyMcConney, the fmr controller of the #TrumpOrganization, testified that in 50 yrs he was never aware of a payment being doubled for taxes. He then argues that this gross-up was made because the reimbursement was disguised as income.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass acknowledges that nearly every relevant piece of evidence in the trial suggests that #Trump would be reluctant to overpay for anything. But, Steinglass says, “it was worth it” to the newly elected president. “It was worth it to hide the truth about what this money was really for.”
Also you gotta think the #MichaelCohen extra costs were factored into the agreed upon figure to #StormyDaniels.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass puts his own spin on one of the defense’s #ClosingArguments, that the existence at the #TrumpOrganization of financial documents related to the charged #crimes shows that they were not crimes.
“You almost have to laugh at the way Mr. #Blanche explained it to you,” he says. “They would have destroyed evidence — committed another crime — to hide this crime, but because they didn’t do that, & these documents exist” that’s evidence that there was no crime.
If that logic held, no charge of falsifying business records would ever be successful because “The existence of the false business record in the first place would prove there was no intent to defraud.” Then, #Steinglass asks, concluding his point, “doesn’t that seem a little bit circular to you?”
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Blanche tried to make the fact that #MichaelCohen didn’t remember how much he was owed each month for the reimbursements into a suspicious thing. But #Steinglass says it demonstrates that there was no retainer agreement, & that the knowledge & the math was then in the hands of #Trump’s employees.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Steinglass addresses Blanche’s earlier point that #MichaelCohen did other #legal work for #Trump in 2017. He argues that Cohen did <10 hrs of legal work that year & says Cohen spent more time being cross-examined during this trial than he spent doing legal work in 2017.
Steinglass argues that, if the defense's arguments that Cohen was being paid for legal services held up, Trump would have ended up paying Cohen at a rate that would have added up to >$100M annually.
#Steinglass notes that #Trump himself has, several times in several places, “admitted” that the payments to #MichaelCohen were reimbursements, not payments for #legal services. This might not be a devastating argument for the defense if they’d proposed an alternative theory of the case. But instead they argued the $420k sent to Cohen was in fact a payment for legal services, so these admissions from Trump himself are not good for him.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Steinglass shows Trump’s filing w/the federal government’s Office of Government #Ethics in May 2018 that revealed #Trump had made a payment to #MichaelCohen. The filing came days after #RudyGiuliani said on #FoxNews that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the #StormyDaniels payment.
#Blanche cited this same filing as #evidence that Trump had no #intent to #defraud.
“The defendant didn’t actually pay a lawyer, he paid a porn star by funneling money through a lawyer” Steinglass says.
#Steinglass says that defense is arguing that #AllenWeisselberg & #MichaelCohen assumed authority over large amounts of #Trump’s money. “That’s crazy,” Steinglass says. “Neither one had anywhere near that kind of authority.”
Steinglass attacks defense’s “false narrative” about #Trump not attending to his finances after he became president. He notes an assistant in the #WhiteHouse, #MadeleineWesterhout, testified Trump paid extremely close attention to his personal finances.
#Steinglass revisits the passages of #Trump’s books which were read to the jury during the trial. Trump described himself as a frugal micromanager who advised always looking at & questioning invoices.
In one excerpt, Trump said that while decorators are generally good people, you should be very careful checking their invoices. “If Donald Trump is checking the invoices for his decorator, you can bet that he’s checking the invoices for #MichaelCohen,” Steinglass says.
More quotes from #Trump's books:
“No detail is too small to consider” &, after talking about his preference for personally signing checks “When you sign a check yourself, you’re seeing what’s really going on inside your business.”
Steinglass points jurors to testimony from #HopeHicks, in which Hicks said that Trump had expressed it “would have been bad” to have the #StormyDaniels story come out before the election.
#Steinglass describes evidence from Feb 2018.
Jurors are showing signs of fatigue.
When Steinglass talks about the the #TrumpOrganization, he says “In New York state, bottom line, you cannot lie in your business records.”
There’s a sidebar on the schedule for the remainder of the day.
As Steinglass leaves he asks jurors directly if they’re good to go a bit longer. Some must have said they could, because he is continuing .
#Steinglass is now in hour 5 of his closing (including breaks).
Steinglass is telling the prosecution’s theory w/a strong narrative. Blanche’s didn’t; his version was, everyone’s a liar & out to get #Trump.
Steinglass reviews evidence from spring 2018, when #MichaelCohen was under investigation & beginning to question his loyalty to Trump. He argues that, whatever jurors think of Cohen, “he was the defendant’s fixer, & like all fixers, he knew where the bodies were buried.”
Prosecutors have argued that a lawyer named #RobertCostello was dispatched to keep #MichaelCohen loyal. Costello was the only substantive witness called by the defense, & his appearance was nutso 🦇💩
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial-robert-costello.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
#Steinglass moves to #MichaelCohen’s guilty plea to federal crimes. When #Hoffinger questioned Cohen about the pleas, she asked if he’d committed #crimes at Trump’s behest. Cohen said that he had.
Steinglass reads portions of that testimony aloud, before pivoting to #Trump’s tweets blasting Cohen right after he pleaded guilty.
Steinglass argues the tweets were a message to other witnesses. “Cooperate, & you will face the wrath of Donald Trump.”
#Steinglass again reads passages of obe of Trump’s books, in which he wrote that he can’t stomach disloyalty. Steinglass argues that #Trump disparages #witnesses who speak out against him in order to discourage other witnesses from coming forward.
Steinglass reads a Truth Social post of Trump’s from Aug 2023, in which he wrote in all capital letters: “if you go after me, I”m coming after you.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #WitnessIntimidation #StochasticTerrorism #MobTactics
#Steinglass continues the argument on #WitnessIntimidation, noting that #Trump attacked #StormyDaniels on social media the same day she had an interview w/the Manhattan DA’s office. Steinglass argues that the post contains a lie — in it, Trump said that he hadn’t seen or spoken to Daniels since meeting her on a golf course in 2006.
Steinglass says that the jury knows it to be a lie because #RhonaGraff, Trump’s loyal asst, testified that Daniels had met w/Trump at Trump Tower.
#Steinglass: “Ask yourselves, why did the defendant lie about this & why did he do it while the grand jury was considering charges in this case?”
Steinglass asks why, if #Trump simply had a business relationship w/ #StormyDaniels, he attacked her in March 2023 when she made public that she had appeared before the grand jury.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
With the jury out of the room, the prosecution & defense argue about whether #Steinglass can talk about #StormyDaniels’s state of mind.
Justice #Merchan hears the lawyers out & sides w/the defense, telling Steinglass that he’s gone as far as he needs to go in talking about Daniels being #intimidated by Trump, & that no further argument to that effect need be made.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Break over. Justice #Merchan thanks the jurors for their flexibility & calls #Steinglass back to the lectern. Before they returned, the judge told Steinglass that he needed to wrap up — at least for the day — by 8PM (wuh?). If he does not conclude by then, it sounded as if it was possible that Steinglass would have to conclude tomorrow.
Wonder how the #NodFarter aka #Trump will hold up…
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Steinglass, who had stuck to a chronological timeline, goes back to 2016 to connect #Trump to each element that prosecutors say is a #crime. He argues that David #Pecker corroborated the idea that #MichaelCohen had kept Trump up to date on the #HushMoney payments at every step. Cohen, Steinglass says, “is not some rogue actor here.”
Steinglass talks about the infamous tape of Trump & Micahel Cohen discussing the payment to #KarenMcDougal.
Blanche pointed out that #MichaelCohen secretly taped #Trump & other people, raising questions about why he’d record his own client.
Redirect addressed it neatly, Cohen said he made it to prove to McDougal’s atty that Trump would come through.
Steinglass now has to guide jurors through some of the most important parts of his argument to drive home key points.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
Sharon McCarthy
Burnt Veggies
𝓐𝓷𝓭𝔂𝓣𝓲𝓮𝓭𝔂𝓮 𓀤
LpcProf
okanogen VerminEnemyFromWithin