Wonder if he's getting a read on the jury that is something besides a rubber-stamp conviction.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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Wonder if he's getting a read on the jury that is something besides a rubber-stamp conviction.

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Could be.

CNN inserted another post that happened pre-break.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now moving onto Michel Cohen's conversations with Robert Costello after the FBI raided his home and office.
Blanche asked Cohen if during those conversations with Costello after the raids he told him he could cooperate against Trump, and Cohen in turn told Costello that he "had nothing on President Trump and could not cooperate."
"No," Cohen said.
Blanche asked Cohen if he meant he didn't say it or didn't recall.
"I do not recall," he said.

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After Judge Juan Merchan called for a morning break, Michael Cohen left the stand. He was breathing heavily.
The politicians in the courtroom stood up. Trump was sneering as he walked out. They followed him.
Outside the courtroom, Trump didn't look at the hallway cameras but he did flash a thumbs up.

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aggiehawg said:

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Judge Juan Merchan again reminded the jurors to let the sergeant know whether they can work next Wednesday.

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LOL. The Biden merch on Trump being free on Wednesdays will take a hit.

Is Merchan himself finally tiring of this trial and ready to get it over with?

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Probably trying to navigate being off on Memorial day.

TexAg1987 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Judge Juan Merchan again reminded the jurors to let the sergeant know whether they can work next Wednesday.

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LOL. The Biden merch on Trump being free on Wednesdays will take a hit.

Is Merchan himself finally tiring of this trial and ready to get it over with?

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Probably trying to navigate being off on Memorial day.

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He already granted a juror request to be dark on the Friday before Memorial Day as the juror has a flight to catch.

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Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench after a short morning break.

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aggiehawg said:

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ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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Wonder if he's getting a read on the jury that is something besides a rubber-stamp conviction.

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Could be.

CNN inserted another post that happened pre-break.

Quote:

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now moving onto Michel Cohen's conversations with Robert Costello after the FBI raided his home and office.
Blanche asked Cohen if during those conversations with Costello after the raids he told him he could cooperate against Trump, and Cohen in turn told Costello that he "had nothing on President Trump and could not cooperate."
"No," Cohen said.
Blanche asked Cohen if he meant he didn't say it or didn't recall.
"I do not recall," he said.

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So did Cohen open the door to Costello as a rebuttal witness by saying he could not recall? If Costello can testify that it did happen or that Cohen did tell him that?

aggiehawg said:

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Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench after a short morning break.

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Old guys have a hard time going for any length of time without having to pee.

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So did Cohen open the door to Costello as a rebuttal witness by saying he could not recall? If Costello can testify that it did happen or that Cohen did tell him that?

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That door was already open and it may be that Blanche is laying that groundwork in case they do decide to call Costello as part of the defense case in chief, if there is one.

Don't you think there has to be some sort of defense presented to help clear out some of the smoke and mirrors and get the jury focused on what the important items are? Or will this be done in closing?

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The jurors have indicated that they cannot work next Wednesday, Judge Juan Merchan said.

Earlier, Merchan suggested the possibility of court next Wednesday due to holidays and various conflicts. He left the decision for whether to have court in session next Wednesday to the jury.

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This has nothing to do with the current trial but it's an interesting thread of questions

As revealed in Tuesday's testimony, Michael Cohen is renting his $6.7M condo to an embassy.
Which embassy? It's still unknown.
Cohen is getting $15k per month rent from this embassy.

He's charging half what the condo is worth; is the embassy paying him by some other means? pic.twitter.com/HZEsJrRxvR

— DawsonSField (@DawsonSField) May 16, 2024

Foreverconservative said:

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This has nothing to do with the current trial but it's an interesting thread of questions

As revealed in Tuesday's testimony, Michael Cohen is renting his $6.7M condo to an embassy.
Which embassy? It's still unknown.
Cohen is getting $15k per month rent from this embassy.

He's charging half what the condo is worth; is the embassy paying him by some other means? pic.twitter.com/HZEsJrRxvR

— DawsonSField (@DawsonSField) May 16, 2024

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Yeah, the mortgage on $6.7MM is like $40k/mo. Seems like a really good deal for the embassy and a loser for Cohen.

TexAg1987 said:

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Don't you think there has to be some sort of defense presented to help clear out some of the smoke and mirrors and get the jury focused on what the important items are? Or will this be done in closing?

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What I think doesn't matter because I can't get a feel for where the jury's heads are. His defense team probably hasn't fully decided on that itself.

But I do think that if they put on a defense, with Costello being the main witness, the defense team can make a strong argument that Trump need not testify to Trump. You know he really wants to and will need convincing not to do so.

Ask me again at the end of the day as I expect there will be some more discussion within the scheduling questions. Right now it would appear that at a minimum, the defense is holding that option open.

But if the jury cannot work on Wednesday, no reason Merchan cannot have the attorneys in to begin hammering out the jury instructions to make better use of the time.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is going through several investigations and asked Michael Cohen if he met with them but was never offered or served as a "cooperating witness" in the investigations, including Robert Mueller's, the New York attorney general's, among others.

Cohen agrees it is correct to say that he is not a "cooperating witness."

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen about his attempts to end his supervised release early.
"After you started supervised release, you have made several efforts to have your supervised release terminated early," Blanche says.
"Correct," Cohen says, noting none of them have been successful
Cohen has tried four times to end his supervised release early, he confirms.
Cohen first said three times, but then agreed with Blanche, who corrected him that it's been four failed attempts.
Blanche asks Cohen if he wanted to be released early because of his cooperation with an ongoing investigation.
"But this whole time, all the meetings, you were never offered a cooperation agreement and you were never a cooperating witness?" Blanche asks.
"That's correct," Cohen says.

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen about his desire to work at the White House, specifically wanting to be considered for White House chief of staff.
"I would have liked to have been considered for ego purpose," Cohen says, reiterating his testimony from earlier in the week.
Blanche asks whether he recalled arguments at sentencing about his wanting a role at the White House. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objects and attorneys had a brief sidebar.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked if Michael Cohen recalled whether he testified in October 2023 that he refused a substantial assistance letter.
"I do," Cohen said.
"But that's not true, is it?"
"It's true," Cohen said.

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Cohen continued, "Yes it's truthful. The 5K1 concept (to lower the sentence) was given to Guy Petrillo, my lawyer, that was after already I had plead after the 48 hours that I was given to plea so I turned around and I said I'm not interested so let's not even talk about it. "

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Blanche asked, "Who did you say that to?"
"Guy Petrillo, my lawyer."

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Jury will convict IMO, community service at a minimum to take him off the trail. My guess is the travel restrictions will interfere with the scheduled debate date.

Quote:

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The defense has been pressing Michael Cohen on whether he really wanted to work in the White House, potentially as chief of staff to Donald Trump.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche has asked Cohen repeatedly whether it's true that Cohen only wanted to be considered for the role, "for ego purposes," as he has previously testified. Cohen has stood by that remark.
Blanche is now reviewing texts between Cohen and his daughter, where they discussed whether he would be chief of staff. In the messages, Cohen's daughter says she read that Reince Priebus who did eventually become Trump's first chief of staff was being considered.
"And you said, 'He's pushing like a madman,'" Blanche says, referring to Cohen's comments in the messages.
When Trump picked Priebus, Blanche asks Cohen whether it's true Cohen told his daughter he was disappointed.
"That I wasn't considered, yes sir," Cohen says, sticking to the distinction he's made about merely wanting to be listed among the potential picks.

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Florida Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, both Republicans, are back in the courtroom as Michael Cohen testifies about wanting to be considered for White House chief of staff.
Gaetz is seated next to Trump lawyer Alina Habba in the first row of the galley behind the former president.
Meanwhile, several jurors eyes are looking down. It's unclear if they're taking notes or just looking down.

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche continues to push Michael Cohen on his true desires to be a part of Trump's administration.
In texts, Cohen told his daughter "with him now and he wants me to go just not sure the position."
Cohen acknowledged he told his daughter that Trump was "not happy with the title I wanted."
Blanche pushed Cohen to admit he wanted the position of special counsel to the president within the Trump administration.

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"My daughter may have called it special counsel to the president. The role I had asked President Trump for was the personal attorney to the president," Cohen says, adding that he had wanted a hybrid role with access to Trump but also outside the government.

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Cohen says, adding that he had wanted a hybrid role with access to Trump but also outside the government.

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Coming back to that. Cohen wanted to be in a position to represent to others he was available to lobby for them without having to file as a lobbyist? Is that what he was after?

Quote:

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen if he was "despondent" when the former president of Goldman Sachs Gary Cohn got a post in the White House but not him.
Cohen said no but Blanche confronted him with texts with his daughter about the situation, noting he was having a hard time just getting tickets to President Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017.
Cohen confirmed that on the stand.

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LOL.

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The defense continues to paint a picture of a Michael Cohen spurned by the incoming Trump administration, asking more questions about Cohen's role and his perceived treatment by his longtime client.
"Your daughter said that President Trump and his new people were walking all over you?" Blanche asks.
"Yes, sir," Cohen says.
"You agreed with that, didn't you?" Blanche asks.
"At the time," Cohen says

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"But you were disappointed that after all the work that you had done for President Trump for nine and a half years, nobody including President Trump offered you a position in the White House?" Blanche asked.

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"That's not accurate," Cohen says.
Remember: Cohen has walked a line of acknowledging his desire to be "considered" for a role in the Trump administration, while also insisting he was content with his ultimate standing, while Trump's attorneys try to highlight any perception that he was dejected over his position in the former president's orbit.

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Moving on to Michael Cohen's conversations with Darrell Scott, a member of Trump's Diversity Coalition, Blanche asks, "Did you express disappoint to Pastor Scott repeatedly that President Trump hadn't brought you into the administration?"
"Not into the administration I knew the role I wanted... I may have expressed frustration," Cohen testifies.
Blanche asks why Cohen needed to have someone put in a good word, when he had testified he had spoken to Trump almost every day during the campaign.
Cohen acknowledges that "it's always good to have somebody else advocate."
When asked what he wanted Scott to tell Trump, he says, "How important it was the diversity coalition as a basis for the campaign and its success."

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now shifting his questioning to October 2016 and moving money from his home equity line of credit into the LLC to wire the money to Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels' attorney.

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*****-shaped balloons with photos of District Attorney Alvin Bragg and others are floating over lower Manhattan.
Some of the balloons, which are filled with helium, have a picture of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the hush money trial against Donald Trump taking place nearby.
Others feature a picture of prosecutors, such as special counsel Jack Smith, who brought charges against Trump in different criminal cases.

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LOL.

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He's confronting Michael Cohen about the logistics of how he called Keith Schiller, former director of Oval Office operations and spoke to Trump to "discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it."

Blanche asked Cohen how the call worked. He asked if Schiller put Trump on speaker or talked privately. Cohen said both would occur, and he didn't recall this specific call.

Blanche is leaning on the podium appearing confident and at ease as he speaks.

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NOW he suddenly doesn't recall the specifics of a phone call in 2016?

ETA: TexAgs filter. Balloons are phallic shaped.

My note: “I do not recall” is catching up to “liar” as the phrase/word of the day. “Liar” still has the lead, but “I do not recall” is making a very strong comeback. https://t.co/TifPNO48zB

— Andrew H. Giuliani (@AndrewHGiuliani) May 16, 2024

Quote:

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen about using fake legal cases to support his application for early termination of supervised release.
"As part of application do you recall there were fake legal cases included in the letter around that application," Blanche asks.
Prosecutors objected, but Judge Juan Merchan allowed the question.
Cohen looked at the jury as he explained how he used AI to search for court cases.
Cohen said the cases weren't correct.
"When you say inaccurate you mean the cases didn't exist?" Blanche asks.
"Under that specific citation, that is correct," Cohen says.
Blanche followed up, "… the 3 cases that you gave to your attorney were not real cases?"
"That's correct," Cohen conceded.
While Cohen was giving his explanation about the AI cases, Trump can be seen staring intently at his former lawyer and fixer.

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Had forgotten about that. LOL.

Quote:

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking about a call on the evening of October 24, 2016.
Cohen has testified that he told Donald Trump in the call that the Stormy Daniels hush money deal was funded.
"We talked about the matter, that it was resolved," Cohen says.
Blanche asks if Cohen previously discussed this call with prosecutors, to which Cohen says he doesn't recall.
Blanche asks Cohen if he testified about the call to the grand jury, suggesting that Cohen did not mention it at that time. Cohen says he doesn't recall one way or the other, so Blanche offers to call up the testimony.
Prosectors object and lawyers are now speaking with the judge.

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aggiehawg said:

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Blanche is leaning on the podium appearing confident and at ease as he speaks.

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After an objection from the prosecution and a huddle between the lawyers and judge, Cohen looks at the transcript of his meeting with prosecutors, and eventually says he does have a recollection of talking with them about the call.

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