Crime...aggiehawg said:Aaah, the crime-that-cannot-be-named. Whatever that turns out to be.Im Gipper said:
The crimes alleged in the Indictment.
This testimony, as uncredible as it may be, is regarding things they discussed regarding the mysterious underlying crime and the "cover up" with the fraudulent documents.
What crime or fraud? Even if Trump wanted the story quashed for the benefit of the campaign and paid personal funds to buy the story, is there a crime? Candidates can donate unlimited funds to their own campaign, so where is the crime or fraud?Im Gipper said:Which here falls under the crime-fraud exception.aggiehawg said:More legal advice and action.Quote:
Michael Cohen testifies it was his idea to include a punitive damages clause penalizing Stormy Daniels if she violated the agreement "to ensure that she didn't speak."
No, I don't think there was any crime, but this is why Team Trump is not raising a stink. They know it is admissible.
So basically trust Cohen that there was a crime so he can speak to these communications? That's rich.WHOOP!'91 said:What crime or fraud? Even if Trump wanted the story quashed for the benefit of the campaign and paid personal funds to buy the story, is there a crime? Candidates can donate unlimited funds to their own campaign, so where is the crime or fraud?Im Gipper said:Which here falls under the crime-fraud exception.aggiehawg said:More legal advice and action.Quote:
Michael Cohen testifies it was his idea to include a punitive damages clause penalizing Stormy Daniels if she violated the agreement "to ensure that she didn't speak."
No, I don't think there was any crime, but this is why Team Trump is not raising a stink. They know it is admissible.
I just can't imagine what crime Trump intended to cover up by making the payments.Im Gipper said:
The crimes alleged in the Indictment.
This testimony, as uncredible as it may be, is regarding things they discussed regarding the mysterious underlying crime and the "cover up" with the fraudulent documents.
Asked & answered.Quote:
What crime or fraud?
Im Gipper said:Asked & answered.Quote:
What crime or fraud?
The indictments are 34 instances related to the same event escalated to felonies because they were done to cover up another crime. The statement of facts lists out three theories, but I just don't see how some AP clerk using legal expenses when an invoice comes from a lawyer can cover up any of those three theories.Science Denier said:Im Gipper said:Asked & answered.Quote:
What crime or fraud?
Yea.
Nothing.
Quote:
Prosecutors are entering the courtroom.
They are a little early as Judge Juan Merchan said before lunch that the trial would resume at 2 p.m. ET.
At this point, I'm guessing the crime that the prosecution will try to get a conviction on is improper campaign finances (not disclosing the payment) based on Cohen stating that the NDA was solely for the campaign.Im Gipper said:Asked & answered.Quote:
What crime or fraud?
Not a crime.SwigAg11 said:At this point, I'm guessing the crime that the prosecution will try to get a conviction on is improper campaign finances (not disclosing the payment) based on Cohen stating that the NDA was solely for the campaign.Im Gipper said:Asked & answered.Quote:
What crime or fraud?
Is that a crime? I genuinely don't know at this point; I'm just a simple engineer that likes concrete facts and analyses.
FTR, the statement of facts was written by Bragg's office, not the grand jury.Quote:
The statement of facts lists out three theories, but I just don't see how some AP clerk using legal expenses when an invoice comes from a lawyer can cover up any of those three theories.
Quote:
Michael Cohen is back in the witness box for today's proceedings.
Quote:
The jury has reentered the courtroom, and testimony is resuming.
Quote:
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing jurors emails between Michael Cohen and his banker Gary Farro. The emails, from October 13, 2016, are about opening a bank account for Resolution Consultants, LLC.
Remember: Jurors already saw these emails when Farro testified.
Trump, meanwhile, is back to leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.
That contradicts what Davidson testified to. He was pestering Cohen for the payment BECAUSE Stormy was screaming at Davidson that they lose leverage when, not if, Trump lost the election. We have seen the transcript of the that call betwen him and Cohen that Davidson recorded.Quote:
The jury is shown an email between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson, an attorney who represented Stormy Daniels.
"In this specific case I used the holiday Yom Kippur as the way of just once again try to delay until after the election," Cohen explains as he says Trump told him that it "wouldn't matter" if the story came out after the election.
Remember, this is a Trump quote, according to Cohen's testimony this morning:
"I want you to just push it out as long as you can just get past the election. Because if I win it will have no relevance because I'm president. And if I lose, I don't even care."
AustinAg2K said:How is this statement allowed? I thought you weren't allowed to speculate on what someone else was thinking? Why would the defense not object to this?aggiehawg said:Quote:
Cohen adds: "He wasn't even thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign."
Trump smirks and shakes his head at that remark.
Quote:
The jury is shown paperwork when Michael Cohen opened the bank account for Resolution Consultants, LLC.
Cohen filled out the form saying it was a management consulting company.Cohen says he lied on the documents to open the account.Quote:
'I'm not sure if they would've opened it if it stated to pay off an adult film star for a nondisclosure agreement," he says.
Quote:
Michael Cohen, testifying about creating the company named Resolution Consultants, says it "dawned on me it's actually the name of a company of someone I know, from outside the state."
"I didn't think he would appreciate if I used the same name as his company," Cohen adds.
Cohen says this is why he created a second LLC this one named Essential Consultants.
(Emphasis in the orginal)Quote:
Michael Cohen knows his cross-examination by Donald Trump's legal team is not going to be friendly because that's going to be the former president's defense, CNN Chief Legal Correspondent Paula Reid said Monday.
"This is how they're going to make their case on behalf of their client. They are going to try to paint Michael Cohen as a liar who is out for revenge against his former boss," Reid explained.
Here's how they will try to discredit Cohen, according to Reid:But while Trump attorney Todd Blanche will want to go after Cohen, he must tread carefully, Reid added.
- Through a multimedia presentation that includes clips from Cohen's podcast, excerpts from his book and his many interviews over the past six years where he has attacked Trump
"You don't want to go out him hard that you throw sympathy to Michael Cohen. So this is a huge test," she said. "This will be the defense's case, which is why you haven't seen Todd Blanche do many cross-examinations. He has been most exclusively focused on Michael Cohen."
Quote:
The jury is seeing emails between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson in which Davidson tells Cohen that due to his failure to wire funds, the deal was off.
On October 17, 2016, Cohen says, "My intent was to continue to delay it, as per Mr. Trump's demand. And I clearly did not send funds to Mr. Davidson's lawyers account on this date."
"We were losing control over the settlement of this agreement in order to prevent the story from coming out," Cohen says. Asked if he was concerned, Cohen said, "very."
Guess some prosecutor spoke to him during lunch.Quote:
Michael Cohen looks in the jury's direction after he answers they were very worried if Keith Davidson was no longer going to represent Stormy Daniels.
Quote:
On Oct. 17, National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard texted Michael Cohen: "I'm told they're going with DailyMail. Are you aware?"
Cohen responded: "Call me."
"Well???" Cohen texted later Howard, looking for an update.
"Not taking my calls," Howard responded.
"You're kidding," Cohen wrote.
"Who are you trying to reach?" Cohen asked.
The "agent" Howard wrote, and Cohen testifies that was a reference to Stormy Daniels' lawyer Keith Davidson.
Cohen recalls at the time, "This was obviously incredibly stressful, incredibly important."
Quote:
Michael Cohen called Trump at 5 p.m. on October 17, 2016.
The call log shows it lasted for eight seconds and Cohen says he left a voicemail.
"I called Mr Trump in order to advise him of the situation that because I didn't forward the funds, (Stormy Daniels) is now declared the agreement void, that we were not going to be in a position to delay post the election, which is what he wanted me to do. And that the matter, the story, was going to go to the Daily Mail," Cohen testified.
Quote:
Michael Cohen says he set up the Essential Consultants LLC that day, to make sure he had a "vehicle" to transfer funds to Keith Davidson to "lock down the story."
aggiehawg said:
I think Cohen has lost track of the timeline here. Earlier today he said he set up Essential Consultants to handle the McDougal matter not Stormy's NDA.
I was wondering if Cohen had any relationship with Melania and if she and Trump socialized with Cohen and his wife very often.Quote:
On October 18, 2016, Melania Trump texted Michael Cohen:
"Good morning Michael. Can you pls call DT on his cell. Thanks."
Cohen responded less than a minute later, "Of course."
The text was sent at 8:45 a.m.
Cohen said he was at work at that time and believes he spoke to Donald Trump on his office landline phone.
Bill Maher Drops Unexpected Bomb on Democrats’ Fading Hope to Jail Trump
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) May 11, 2024
“The Democrats have had four years to put Trump on trial and it is all just going away. They blew it at every turn.”
1.) Fani Willis is having an affair with the guy she hired. “And now that one’s going to… pic.twitter.com/yEaksMSzrb
Quote:
Michael Cohen is recalling when he appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer on October 18, 2016.
Cohen says he went on "as a surrogate" for the Trump campaign.
"I advocated for Mr. Trump in the best light possible," Cohen said of his appearance on the show,
Cohen says he was asked on the show about Trump's behavior with women. He says he offered "denials as well as explanations" that he had never seen him act in this manner before.
Cohen says he believes he went on CNN with talking points that night, noting, "I received regular talking points from the campaign."
Quote:
Michael Cohen is recounting his conversation with Donald Trump about the Stormy Daniels story and payment that is at the center of the case.
"He stated to me that he had spoken to some friends, some individuals, smart people, and that it's $130,000. You're a billionaire, just pay it," Cohen testified.
"There's no reason to keep this thing out there so do it. He expressed to me, just do it. Meet up with Allen Weisselberg and figure this whole thing out," Cohen said.
Quote:
Michael Cohen says he spoke to Alan Weisselberg at the time and told the Trump Organization CFO that he was setting up an LLC and that "it just needed to be funded. "
Weisselberg asked if AMI, which owned the National Enquirer, could pay Stormy Daniels.
Cohen says he told him that wasn't going to happen.
Remember we heard from the Enquirer publisher David Pecker, the first witness in the trial, that he wasn't willing to get involved with the Daniels story or shell out any more money to kill Trump stories.
Hope Hicks did say he was a selfish person and did nothing out of the goodness of his heart.Quote:
"I was doing everything I could and more to protect my boss, which is something that I had done for a long," Michael Cohen said.
Cohen testified that he would not have paid the nondisclosure agreement on his own.
"I would not lay out $130,000 for an NDA needed by somebody else," Cohen says.
degreedy said:
what's the best website to keep up with all these updates? (apart from texags obviously)
I'm guessing the prosecution learned their lesson with Stormy Daniels.100% Pure Aggie said:
I'm guessing there won't be cross today.
