DenverAg91 said:Merchan laments that he can't issue larger fines for wealthier violators of the contempt law. So jail "may be a necessary punishment." https://t.co/K1KHksEmTv pic.twitter.com/ypH6aKqNmv
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 30, 2024
He's signaling he may want to jail Trump
The home equity line of credit that Cohen used never made any sense if Trump was directin him to make that payment, in my view. Much simpler to invoice for costs and retainer. For a client such as Trump, a $130,000 retainer would not be that far out of line, depending on the time frame to be covered by it.dallasiteinsa02 said:
I go back to my earlier post.
Cohen hid all this from the bank. If Trump was in on this, why didn't you invoice him, have him pay you, and then pay Stormy.
Cohen did all this crap. Then he shook down Trump with profit and legal fees.
If Trump paying Cohen for the shake down is a crime, he should have been charged with those details not this crap.
Oh hell no! That should not be remotely admissible.Quote:
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says if Donald Trump testifies, they would like to use the gag order violations during cross-examination.
Trump looked over at Colangelo briefly as the prosecutor spoke.
Twice in his Punishment and Order section, Merchan stresses the need to "protect the dignity of the judicial system".Stat Monitor Repairman said:DenverAg91 said:Merchan laments that he can't issue larger fines for wealthier violators of the contempt law. So jail "may be a necessary punishment." https://t.co/K1KHksEmTv pic.twitter.com/ypH6aKqNmv
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 30, 2024
He's signaling he may want to jail Trump
Yeah nothing says "consciousness of guilt," more than saying they are lying about me.Quote:
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says prosecutors want to introduce evidence to show "the defendant's attempt to dissuade witnesses including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels" through what he calls a public pressure campaign, retaliation and harassment online.
Colangelo argues that the defense "opened the door" to these arguments in their opening statements criticizing Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels for saying their financial livelihoods depends on attacking the defendant.
The prosecutor says this would be evidence of Trump's "consciousness of guilt."
Trump attorney Todd Blanche says he wants to know more about what prosecutors plan to do.
Judge Juan Merchan said if the door has been opened, then they'll find out their plan when the prosecutors question witnesses about it and he'll handle it then.
No Trump changed his tune when he discovered his own attrney was recording him without his knowledge and then releasing those recordings which violated attorney client privilege.Quote:
The third reason to introduce the evidence is to show Donald Trump's "consciousness of guilt," Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says again.
Judge Juan Merchan asked Colangelo to elaborate on what evidence would articulate a consciousness of guilt.
Colangelo wants to show the jury Trump's public comments back when Cohen's home was first raided in 2018.
Trump spoke positively of his then-personal fixer at the time.
Prosecutors also want to show the jury Trump's change of tune in public comments about Cohen after he started cooperating with law enforcement against Trump.
Paxton is there?Quote:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is inside the Manhattan courthouse with Donald Trump to show his support for his longtime ally.Trump, notably, helped pressure Texas Republican senators to acquit Paxton during an impeachment trial last year.Quote:
"With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump," Paxton posted on X.
Quote:
Judge Juan Merchan says he won't let prosecutors introduce some text messages in from Gina Rodriguez, Stormy Daniels' then-publicist.
The judge said they are prejudicial and don't advance anything.
More on this: Prosecutors had hoped to get into text messages from Rodriguez to AMI executive Dylan Howard. The prosecutors argued these messages will help contextualize messages Howard sent to her that they plan to show the jury.
So...nothing that directly relates to Trump?Quote:
s Banker Gary Farro wrapped up his testimony, he revealed that at no point did he discuss Donald Trump with Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, nor did he ever speak directly to Trump.
Here's what else we learned through the testimony:
- No political inclination: Over his two days of testimony, Farro said there was no indication the Essential Consultants account would be related to a political candidate, or be used to pay someone in adult film industry as further scrutiny would have been required in that case.
- Paperwork resembled real estate: He testified the account paperwork was consistent with a real estate transaction, as that's Cohen told him.
- Fast paced transaction: Prosecutors showed jurors multiple paper trails to timestamp that this all happened quickly. Farro testified that the opening of the account and the transfer of the funds out of the account all occurred over 24 hours. It took five or six hours to open the Essential Consultants account on October 26, then Cohen got the HELOC transfer within 23 minutes of opening the account, three minutes before wire transfer the cut off time at 3pm that same day. The transfer to Stormy Daniel's attorneys trust was made the next morning.
- Cohen claims: Farro testifies that Cohen listed the purpose of the wire as a "retainer". "There could be a number of things" explaining why an attorney would pay a retainer to another attorney in a real estate transaction, Farro says.
- Defense seeks to distance Trump from Cohen: On cross examination, the defense sought to establish that at no time did Cohen say he was working on behalf of his employer, Trump attempting to distance the president from the payments. The defense had Farro reaffirm that Cohen on the paperwork indicated he was not "acting as an agent" for anyone when he opened the account.
- Shell company claims: Had he known Essential Consultants was a shell company and not an operating business, he would not have opened the account, Farro claimed.
- Cohen's behavior: Farro confirmed he was given Cohen as a client because he could be "firm." Farro consistently testified that everything with Cohen was an "urgent matter." Despite Cohen being Trump's personal attorney, Farro said he wasn't considered a PEP or a politically exposed person. Banks keep a closer eye on account activity for clients they designate as PEPs, he said.
Quote:
Judge Juan Merchan says that he will allow prosecutors to raise Donald Trump's 2018 comments about Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels for their first two purposes:But the judge says that prosecutors cannot use Trump's claims to argue consciousness of guilt as of now.
- to rebut claims that they have benefited financially from attacking Trump
- and why they denied certain facts
Quote:
Prosecutors are calling their fourth witness, Dr. Robert Browning, the executive director of C-SPAN archives. His testimony will be a vehicle to get records into evidence.
Prosector Rebecca Mangold is handling the questions.
Quote:
C-SPAN received a subpoena to testify, confirms Robert Browning, the executive director of the C-SPAN archives.
The subpoena was from the Manhattan district attorney's office to turn over recordings in its archives of Donald Trump, Browning says.
Quote:
Robert Browning, the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, is explaining to the jury what a network pool is.
Browning says they're able to authenticate the feed. "While the event is taking place, there's a producer who is watching the video from beginning to the end to make sure there's no interruptions in the transmission," he testifies.
It's Browning's first time testifying at a trial. He traveled from Indiana for this. He said he's a little nervous.
Quote:
C-SPAN executive Robert Browning is now explaining what the C-SPAN digital video library is. He says it has "278,000 digital hours to date."
Quote:
Prosecutors are now entering clips into evidence as Robert Browning, executive director of C-SPAN archives, sits at the witness stand
Some of the clips include:The prosecution played a clip from a video featuring Trump.
- A video recording dated October 14, 2016 "presidential candidate Donald Trump in Greensboro, NC"
- A clip from video October 22, 2016 "presidential candidate Donald Trump remarks in Gettysburg PA"
There also was a clip from January 11, 2017, a news conference with president-elect Trump.
"As you have seen, right now I'm being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It's a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are," Trump says in the first clip they're playing from October 2016.
This was in response to stories of women alleging sexual assault after the "Access Hollywood" tape was released in October 2016.
They also played a clip from Trump's campaign event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
No it wouldn't be allowed.dallasiteinsa02 said:
I would be trying to introduce CSPAN tapes of Bragg running on getting Trump by any means necessary. Judge probably wouldn't allow it but it should be.
No reason to cross him as he is a foundational witness.Quote:
Robert Browning is off the stand. There is no cross-examination.
He testified for 14 minutes in total.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche is whispering with Donald Trump as Browning leaves the stand.
If I bragged to all of my friends on social media that I planned to burn down someone's house, and then did such and got caught, would that be admissible?dallasiteinsa02 said:
I would be trying to introduce CSPAN tapes of Bragg running on getting Trump by any means necessary. Judge probably wouldn't allow it but it should be.
Quote:
Prosecutors have called their fifth witness to the stand. Phillip Thompson works for a court reporting company.
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is questioning Thompson, who said he is testifying on behalf of his company, Esquire Deposition Solutions, in response to a subpoena.
Quote:
We're going over the nuts and bolts of depositions.
Phillip Thompson explains that depositions are recorded via a court reporter, who prepares a transcript, and sometimes they are also videotaped.
Why? At the time these accounting entries were being made there was no E. Jean Carroll on anyone's radar. She didn't make her accusations against Trump until 2019.Quote:
Phillip Thompson's company, Esquire Deposition Solutions, was subpoenaed for the video and transcript of Donald Trump's October 2022 deposition taken in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.
Esquire produced more than one version of the transcript of Trump's deposition, but the substance of Trump's testimony is identical in both versions, Thompson says. Trump did not submit any corrections to his testimony.
Trump is leaning back with his eyes closed, with no visible reaction to the mention of the Carroll case.
Quote:
Phillip Thompson's company, Esquire Deposition Solutions, was subpoenaed for the video and transcript of Donald Trump's October 2022 deposition taken in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.
Esquire produced more than one version of the transcript of Trump's deposition, but the substance of Trump's testimony is identical in both versions, Thompson says. Trump did not submit any corrections to his testimony.
Quote:
The jury is shown the cover page of the transcript of the video deposition of Donald Trump, which took place on October 19, 2022, at the former president's Mar a Lago resort in Florida.
Prosecutors are playing a clip from the deposition of Trump describing Truth Social.
"It's a platform that's been opened by me as alternative to Twitter," Trump says in the deposition.
They also have the corresponding transcript excerpt to accompany the video clip.
In a second video clip, Trump confirms that he is married to Melania Trump since 2005.
Quote:
In the next video clip, Donald Trump is asked about the "Access Hollywood" tape.
"Thats you in that video, speaking?" Trump is asked about the tape. "Yes, correct," Trump says in the clip that's being shown.
Remember: The "Access Hollywood" tape itself will not be shown, as the judge previously ruled it could not come into evidence.
Quote:
Stormy Daniels' former attorney Keith Davidson is called to the witness stand next and is being questioned by prosecutor Josh Steinglass.
Davidson glances over to Donald Trump's table as he walked past him to the witness stand.
Trump glanced over at Davidson as he walked past, too.
Quote:
Bill Brennan, the Former Trump Payroll Corporation attorney said Tuesday that it's unusual it is for witnesses to have to testify that videos and evidence provided in court is real.
CNN's Jake Tapper asked Brennan why a witness from C-SPAN was called to court, and why Phillip Thompson, from a court reporting company had to to testify that videos and depositions were correct.
When asking Brennan, Tapper said:
"This is not normal. The reason that they're having to have these individuals testify: this deposition is real, these video clips are real is because there is no willingness between the prosecution and defense to work together. Is that right?"
Brennan agreed it was happening due to an unwillingness for both the prosecution and defense to cooperate.Quote:
"We're not in the court room, we don't know what's going on but it sounds like there's a line in the sand… makes for a little bit of a longer trial, a little more of a boring trial," Brennan said.
Davidson was a shakedown artist.Quote:
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is beginning his questioning by walking through Keith Davidson's employment history. Davidson says he owns his own law firm in Los Angeles, Davidson and Associates.
When asked about the period of time from 2015 to 2017 Davidson says, "At that time, my practice was heavily involved with media cases."
Davidson confirms that his work frequently involved non-disclosure agreements in those cases.
Only if they are a witness and not a target.Quote:
Keith Davidson says he received immunity to testify in the grand jury but did not seek it.
He says he's testifying today pursuant to a subpoena.
Some background: Under New York law, a person can automatically get immunity for testifying before a grand jury.
Well that is BS. He certainly knew who tocall when he was hopping the McDougal and Daniels story to the Enquirer.Quote:
Keith Davidson says he "rarely" negotiated the sale of stories to the tabloids.
No, he dealt with Dylan Howard, the guy who would make the pitch to Pecker.Quote:
Keith Davidson tells prosecutors he's had "very little" contact with ex-tabloid publisher David Pecker, saying he's only ever interacted with Pecker three or four times in his life.
Quote:
Michael Cohen was working on Donald Trump's behalf when they interacted over the Stormy Daniels' blog post, Keith Davidson testified.
Davidson was given a thumb drive in court with emails and attachments from his law firm's servers.
Yes. There are screens that the jury can see and computers at both counsel tables for their use.TexAg1987 said:
What is with giving the witnesses the thumb drives? Are they able to pull up the documents?
Quote:
Keith Davidson is being asked if knows Karen McDougal.
"She was a client of mine," he said, adding that he met her 25 years ago when she was dating his friend.
Davidson is McDougal's former attorney.
Quote:
Keith Davidson said he represented Karen McDougal in 2016 to provide her advice of counsel about her rights about a personal interaction she had with Donald Trump.
Davidson said McDougal became his client because they were reintroduced by her former brother-in-law.
Quote:
Keith Davidson was shown an email he sent to former Playboy model Karen McDougal saying, "Great seeing you today. I've already started on your case."
The email also contained a retainer agreement and was dated June 15, 2016.
a/k/a "pay me or I go public."Quote:
The jury is shown a portion of the retainer agreement that explains the scope of the work.Quote:
In part it reads, "Client is hiring attorney to represent client in the matter of client's claim against Donald Trump and or assisting client in negotiating a confidentiality agreement and/or life rights related to interaction with Donald Trump and/or negotiating assignment of exclusive press opportunities regarding same."
Quote:
Keith Davidson says he won't get into his discussions with Karen McDougal about this agreement, but he says that the paragraph above authorized him to negotiate with media outlets on his client's behalf.
But sure, Davidson knew nothing about shopping stories for payoffs.Quote:
The jury is now seeing texts that Keith Davidson sent to former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
The first text is sent June 7, 2016.Davidson testifies it was meant to be an "entree or teaser" to let Howard know he had a good story.Quote:
Davidson texts: "I have a blockbuster trump story"
Howard responded: "Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why…"
Quote:
Prosecutors are now going over text messages between Keith Davidson and Dylan Howard, the former editor of the National Enquirer.
A June 10 text from Howard reads, "Did he cheat on Melania?"
Another text on June 12 text from Howard reads, "Do you know if the affair was during his marriage to Melania?"
"I really can't say yet. Sorry," Davidson responds on June 12.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass the asked Davidson whether he said that because he didn't know or because he wasn't ready to discuss the details yet. "It was because I was not prepared to discuss the details at that point," Davidson says.
Thought he wasn't going to reveal conversations he had with his clien?Quote:
While testifying, Keith Davidson has been referring to the matter as "the personal interaction that Karen had with Donald Trump."
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just asked him to say what it is.
"Ms. McDougal alleged she had a romantic affair with Donald Trump some years prior," Davidson says.
Asked if the relationship was sexual in nature, Davidson says, "That's what she expressed."
Quote:
Keith Davidson is now discussing the June 2016 meeting he arranged between Karen McDougal and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, where she told her story about Donald Trump to AMI the parent company of the tabloid.
AMI's initial response was to decline to purchase McDougal's story with the reasoning that she "lacked documentary evidence of the interaction."
After the meeting ended, "we said we'd keep in touch," Davidson says.
In a text message from June 27, 2016, Davidson texted Howard: "It's a story (t)hat should be told…"
"I agree," Howard texted back in response.
Quote:
Keith Davidson confirmed he was also in discussions with ABC News about Karen McDougal's story.
On July 27, former editor in chief of the National Enquirer, Dylan Howard, texted, "Let's talk DT/Ross. I think this is the entre for me to go back to them."
This is a reference to ABC News journalist Brian Ross.
Davidson replied, "better be quick."
Davidson said he assumed that text meant Howard would go back to David Pecker, then chair of American Media Inc., to revisit the negotiations over McDougal's story.
Again but sure he seldom did that stuff for clients. Liar.Quote:
Keith Davidson explains why he went to ABC News as well as the National Enquirer.
"At the time, as if often the case with negotiations, I was trying to play two entities off of each other," Davidson says, adding that the objective was to "create a sense of urgency, if you will."
His goal was to get the best deal for his client with whichever outlet, Davidson said.
Howard said he told Davidson "we need to talk urgently." Davidson says he assumes that message was conveyed to former AMI CEO David Pecker.
Quote:
Keith Davidson told prosecutors that former Playboy model Karen McDougal was "teetering" about the ABC deal.
Earlier, he confirmed that he was also in discussions with ABC News about McDougal's story.
Quote:
In a July 22 text, Keith Davidson texted Dylan Howard: "Don't forget about Cohen. Time is of the essence. The girl is being cornered by the estrogen mafia."
Testifying about the "estrogen mafia" comment, Davidson called it "a very unfortunate regrettable text I sent."
"That phrase is not one I used or came up with, that was a term I think by one of Karen's associates at that first meeting," Davidson said.
Quote:
Keith Davidson is testifying that Karen McDougal "did not want to tell her story."
Davidson says McDougal's goals were to "rejuvenate her career, to make money and to avoid telling the story and being termed the scarlet letter." She didn't want to be termed "the other woman," he said.The ABC deal required her to tell her story, so she liked the AMI deal that wouldn't force her to do that, Davidson says.Quote:
On July 23, 2016, former National Enquirer editor Howard texted Davidson: "Get me a price on McDougall (sic). All in. Consulting gig perhaps as a fitness expert thrown into the mix."
"That was one of her stated goals" not to have to tell her story, he says.
Quote:
The court is taking a lunch break.
But not blackmail nor extortion?Quote:
Keith Davidson is testifying about his first offer to former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
Davidson's offer to Howard over text was: "How about 1m now," meaning $1 million, he explained. "And 75k per year for next 2 years as a fitness corresponded for ami & ur related pubs."
"I'll take it to them but thinking it's more hundreds than millions," Howard responded over text on July 23. Davidson said he interpreted that warning to mean, "I should expect a counter offer that was substantially less."
Davidson responded by offering $800,000 now and $100,000 per year for a total of $1 million.
Howard's response "leave w/ me" suggested they were not "in the same ballpark," he testified.
"We are going to lay it on thick for her," Howard texted Davidson on July 28, 2016.
Davidson replied, "Good. Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I'm thinking Isle of Mann."
Davidson noted that was a joke.
"It was sort of in jest," Davidson said. "That was just a joke."
Why? Did Davidson have a Porche payment due or something?Quote:
Former National Enquirer editor and AMI executive Dylan Howard texted Keith Davidson on July 28: "She'll get more out of a deal with AMI than ABC."
"I need this to happen," Davidson responded over text.
More on this: Earlier, Davidson confirmed he was in discussions with ABC News about a possible deal for Karen McDougal's story.
