Folks, I have an appointment and will be gone for about an hour. Sorry.

aggiehawg said:

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Folks, I have an appointment and will be gone for about an hour. Sorry.

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Thanks for the heads-up.
I'm off to the gym, will be back in an hour

aggiehawg said:

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Folks, I have an appointment and will be gone for about an hour. Sorry.

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Pause your live stream and pick up where you left off. I love your play-by-play and legal analysis.

aggiehawg said:

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Folks, I have an appointment and will be gone for about an hour. Sorry.

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aggiehawg said:

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Folks, I have an appointment and will be gone for about an hour. Sorry.

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Time for that post lunch nap. It happens.

100% Pure Aggie said:

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CNN live stream100% Pure Aggie said:

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follow the stream here:

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https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-05-14-24/index.html

Cohen secretly taped his conversations with Trump.

Trump trial: Recording of Donald Trump’s conversation with Michael Cohen is played to the jury.

It’s a recording Cohen took of a conversation between him and Trump in the wake of Karen McDougal being paid hush-money to keep her story about her affair with Trump quiet. pic.twitter.com/nyw09ZaLOg

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 14, 2024

rgvag11 said:

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Cohen secretly taped his conversations with Trump.

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Welcome to yesterday.

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Judge says court will end at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday

Judge Juan Merchan informs the jury that the court will end at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Remember there is no session tomorrow or on Friday.

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100% Pure Aggie said:

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Quote:

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Judge says court will end at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday

Judge Juan Merchan informs the jury that the court will end at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Remember there is no session tomorrow or on Friday.

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Always dark on Wednesday. Trump asked for Friday to attend Barron's graduation.
Apparently he also scheduled a fundraiser on Friday.

Just filed in the SDNY

More election interference. Yea!

Okay, I'm back.

I'll scroll through what happened while I was gone and post what stands out to me.

You're a gem, 'hawg.
Thank you.

Something Trump’s lawyers have not asked Cohen but should:

Were YOU indeed having an extra marital affair with Stormy?

Was THAT the reason you got involved?

This is how you solidify or dismiss Avenatti’s prison claims about the affair and torpedo Bragg’s entire case.

— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) May 14, 2024

pdc093 said:

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Something Trump’s lawyers have not asked Cohen but should:

Were YOU indeed having an extra marital affair with Stormy?

Was THAT the reason you got involved?

This is how you solidify or dismiss Avenatti’s prison claims about the affair and torpedo Bragg’s entire case.

— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) May 14, 2024

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Oh come on...like this judge would allow that question to be asked.

Everybody wants to be there.

https://nypost.com/2024/05/14/us-news/why-trump-loyalists-vp-contenders-are-flocking-to-hush-money-trial-its-about-paying-homage/

Right off the bat. Meeting with Team Mueller.

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Todd Blanche is asking a series of questions about Michael Cohen's interactions with special counsel Robert Muller's team in August 2018.
Cohen says when he met them on August 7, 2018, he was there "still to protect Mr Trump."
He added that his answers were "deceptive."
Blanche asks if Cohen then decided to cooperate with the special counsel's investigation.
"I was asked to cooperate, yes," Cohen says.
Trump leaned in to look at the screen as Blanche showed Cohen a document to confirm who was at the August 7, 2018, meeting, including an FBI agent and others.

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His plea deal required him to cooperate with whomever the hell they told him to do so, or they would charge ad prosecute his wife. Same gamebook they used agains Michael Flynn.

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Attorney Todd Blanche is now walking through Michael Cohen through his interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, where Cohen denied going to Prague, one of the false allegations in the so-called Steele dossier. Cohen also told the office he never paid the Russian to hack anything.

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"You wanted your voice to be part of their report that was ultimately issued?" Blanche asks.
"I wanted my voice to be reflected that the Steele dossier, towards me as an example, was inaccurate," Cohen says.
"They asked you about the Trump Moscow project and you lied to them," Blanche asks.
"Yes, the information that I gave was not accurate," Cohen says.

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In earlier exchange, Blanche asks Cohen if his life has been "turned upside down since the release of the Steele dossier." Cohen tells him, "Yes."

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Had forgotten about the Cohen in Prague hoax.

Next:

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Michael Cohen confirms he at some point learned a Rule 35 motion to ask a federal judge to reduce a prison sentence must be made within one year of the sentence.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Cohen if he remembers his attorney asked if the district attorney's office would support his Rule 35 motion if he cooperated.
"I believe so, yes," Cohen says in response.
Blanche asks if the basis for the motion was because of his cooperation.
"As well as the earlier cooperation, yes," Cohen says,

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This goes back to Giglio material as to what was Cohen being promised in exchange for his testimony. Jury gets to hear that because the witness' motivations to testify go to credibility.

This is interesting:

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"Is it fair to say you are motivated by fame?" Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen.
"No, sir. I don't think that's fair to say," Cohen says.
"Is it fair to say you're motivated by publicity?" Blanche follows up.
"I don't know if that's fair to say. I'm motivated by many things," Cohen answers
Blanche quoted an excerpt of Cohen's book "Disloyal."
"I wanted it all: power, the good life, public acclaim, fame, big deals, fast cars, private planes, the excess and glamor and zest for life."
"Those are my words, yes," Cohen confirmed.

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'Nuff said.

Then there's this:

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Todd Blanche confirms with Michael Cohen he did not meet with the Manhattan district attorney's office between August 30, 2019, and January 11, 2020.
Blanche asks Cohen whether he thanked the district attorney team for continuing its investigation in January 2021.
"Sounds correct," Cohen says.
Blanche asks Cohen about meeting with Mark Pomerantz, the special assistant district attorney, brought in under Cy Vance.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objects to the question.
For context: At the time the DA's investigation was focused on the accuracy of Trump's financial statements used to obtain loans and insurance. The investigation was essentially dropped. The New York Attorney General filed civil charges. The case went to trial and the judge ordered Trump to pay nearly half a billion in disgorgement and interest.

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Prosecution sure has a bee in their bonnet over Pomerantz. The lady doth protest too much? Too close a tie to the Biden WH, perhaps?

Hhmm.

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Michael Cohen is explaining the terms of his home confinement, where he could spent three hours a day outside anywhere in the borough of Manhattan.
Cohen said he could go anywhere in Manhattan. Initially he wore an ankle bracelet but that turned into him carrying a cell phone.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons would track him via the phone and randomly call to check in on his whereabouts.
Cohen is still on supervised released, he said. Cohen has tried and failed many time to get that terminated early.
"I was looking for a reduction in the home confinement portion," Cohen says, adding that in addition to his cooperation, he also wanted his work at Otisville to be credited.

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He was in minimum security. What work did he do?

Another hmm, did not know this.

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In November 2021, Michael Cohen moved from home confinement to supervised release.

He explained in court that it was less stringent, checking in once a month and providing notice when leaving the state or the country.

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Leave the country? He could leave the country?

Mr. Cohen, would you consider that sum insignificant too?

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Michael Cohen says he has made roughly $3.4 million in sales of his two books over the past four years.
The second book, "Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics" earned about $400,000, Cohen says.
His first book was "Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump."

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LOL. This is spot on.

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Michael Cohen is "perfect for Todd Blanche," former Trump payroll corporation attorney William J. Brennan said as the defense cross-examines Trump's former attorney.

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"This witness is perfect for Todd Blanche. All the people second guessing each and every question, sit down, get your popcorn and let Mr. Blanche do his job," Brennan said.

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"The judge will charge this jury that if a witness has a bias or skin in the game, you take that testimony with caution," Brennan added. "A witness is supposed to say, 'they robbed the bank, they drove the car, it was blue and it was raining out.' Not 'I want him in jail.'"

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Animus+financial interest=lack of credibility

Caught up but what is this about?

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Judge Juan Merchan asks the lawyers to approach after Michael Cohen leaves the courtroom.
Cohen turned his head toward the prosecution's table as he walked past the defense table. Donald Trump was staring straight ahead.

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Jury is gone. Why can't this be discussed in open court?

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Todd Blanche says he still believes he will finish cross-examination by the end of the day on Thursday.
"If I finish, it's the end of the day I anticipate, your honor," the attorney for Donald Trump says.
Judge Juan Merchan responds, "No rush, take your time, do what you need to do."
Blanche also references their expert witness and asked the judge if they could discuss what is admissible in light of the judge's pretrial rulings.
Merchan says he will take it up at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.

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Thursday will be a barn burner.

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Judge Juan Merchan responds, "No rush, take your time, do what you need to do."

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The longer I can keep this trial going, the longer I keep Orange Man Bad off the campaign trail.

Are they done for the day?

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"If I finish, it's the end of the day I anticipate, your honor," the attorney for Donald Trump says.

Judge Juan Merchan responds, "No rush, take your time, do what you need to do."

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Keep the defendant in the mini-jail I've created for him so we can keep the media pundits spewing conjecture about him going to prison and, at the very least, keep him out of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin..

Is this real life?

BLANCHE: You referred to President Trump as a boorish cartoon misogynist?
COHEN: “Sounds like something I would say”

BLANCHE: “you referred to President Trump as a Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain?”
COHEN: sounds like something i would say

— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) May 14, 2024

SwigAg11 said:

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Are they done for the day?

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Yes.

It seems like the prosecution has completely failed to prove its case.

Casual Cynic said:

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It seems like the prosecution has completely failed to prove present its case.

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FIFY

Casual Cynic said:

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It seems like the prosecution has completely failed to prove its case.

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Not only that, the two star witnesses (Stormy and Cohen) have both shown to have tremendous motivation to see Trump in jail and would lie about anything to see that happen.

aggiehawg said:

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"The judge will charge this jury that if a witness has a bias or skin in the game, you take that testimony with caution," Brennan added. "A witness is supposed to say, 'they robbed the bank, they drove the car, it was blue and it was raining out.' Not 'I want him in jail.'"

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You had this in a previous post. Do judges typically state that to jurors or required to?

Even just asking that Cohen and having it avoided by the judge or prosecution damages the state's case.

GeorgiAg said:

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Is this real life?

BLANCHE: You referred to President Trump as a boorish cartoon misogynist?
COHEN: “Sounds like something I would say”

BLANCHE: “you referred to President Trump as a Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain?”
COHEN: sounds like something i would say

— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) May 14, 2024

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How long until those two socks are registered?

Casual Cynic said:

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It seems like the prosecution has completely failed to prove its case.

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While I agree with that assessment, does the jury know that? And will the jury instructions be crafted so as to advise them of that?

So people understand how jury instructions are created. There are uniform pattern instructions that have been road tested in court cases over the years that are used for the general stuff, presumption of innocence, burden of proof on the state prosecution, beyond a reasonable doubt, credibility guidance, counsel arguments are not evidence, etc.

Then there are pattern instructions specific to the crimes contained within the indictment, BUT the judge can make a determination that not enough evidence (if any) has been adduced at trial to warrant submitting that count(s) to the jury and pare down the number of counts.

Then there are ancillary instructions that apply if certain situations pop up during the evidentiary portion of the trial, such as limiting instructions to the jury as which issues they may or may not consider certain evidence for during deliberation.

Both sides have been drafting and redrafting proposed jury instructions since before and throughout trial and submitting those to the judge for his/her consideration. When the evidentiary portion is done, the judge gives both parties his/her proposed set of jury instructions and sets aside time for argument without the jury present.

Those hearings can be quite contentious and go relatively late into the night and the judge can ask for briefings from the parties overnight to assist in resolving the differences. Ideally, that all takes place before closing arguments. However, out of courtesy to the jury if a time crunch occurs with no final resolution, makes for a very long night for the lawyers working on both briefing on the disputed instructions and adjusting their final version of closing arguments.

Rule number one for good trial attorneys: always draft your closing argument at the very outset of the case that you expect to go to trial. Then work backwards, checking off all required elements, evidence applicable thereto or what is missing and needs to be fleshed out all of the way back to opening statements. Creat your narrative and roadmap to eventually arrive at closing. One can win a legal argument six ways from Sunday but if the jury doesn't understand that, you have failed. If one can keep them on track with a logical and methodical framework, they will follow along.

The prosecution here did not do that. Starting with Pecker and Davidson then having some actual fact witnesses as to the documents interspersed, jumping to Hope Hicks, Rhona Graf, and Madeleine Westerhout with nearly three days of Stormy in the middle and Cohen at the end? Jumping around too much, in my view. Not much consistency. Can the prosecution pull that hash of a case together during a smooth closing and rebuttal? We'll see.

Through all the witnesses thus far, what has been proven? Not a damn thing. This was one of the most fragmented incomplete trials accusing nothing that I have ever seen. It seems as though the only motivation of the prosecution was to prove that Trump may have a cloudy history, and that the clouds solely depend on the eye of the beholder. It was either a pretty cloud or an ugly cloud.

But where is the prosecutions case of proving illegal hush money payments? The only thing they proved is the witnesses themselves had very little to nothing to do with any payments apart from Cohen, and more so than anything some of the actual dealings that transpired to payments were direct results of Cohen's sliminess.

edit: spelling

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