Agzonfire said:
How can a jury be "stacked" when Trump's lawyers approved the selection?
Narrator: It did.Quote:
If this case does indeed go to the jury, and I am 100% wrong, be very very afraid of what America has become…a banana republic with kangaroo courts…
Do you think the prosecution has made a legitimate case or Trump should see the inside of a jail cell?fc2112 said:
Are all the bold proclamations about Trump never seeing the inside of a jail cell all queued up to be bumped?
Sorry! You are going to have to stick to getting your jollies from the thought of NY foreclosing on Trump properties. He's not going to jail.fc2112 said:
Are all the bold proclamations about Trump never seeing the inside of a jail cell all queued up to be bumped?
Well anything is possible, but this sounds a lot like wishful thinking!Quote:
My bold prediction…this case doesn't go to the jury…
Either an outright dismissal, or the judge declares a mistrial…
The only thing that makes me believe this is a possibility is Merchan knows they have no case. It will look like a legitimate verdict if a biased judge sends the case to a NY biased jury and Trump is still found innocent. But if he dismisses the case the media can flip the narrative to this is a "Trump supporting judge who let him off" even though we all know that isn't true. But the average idiot not paying attention to the case would buy it.Im Gipper said:Well anything is possible, but this sounds a lot like wishful thinking!Quote:
My bold prediction…this case doesn't go to the jury…
Either an outright dismissal, or the judge declares a mistrial…
I think Merchan is going to bend over backward to get this case to the jury.
FireAg said:
My bold prediction…this case doesn't go to the jury…
Either an outright dismissal, or the judge declares a mistrial…
I think the judge gave more than enough latitude to the prosecution to try to get their conviction, but even he knows he can't undo Cohen admitting to stealing money from Trump, the obvious look of Cohen's own embezzlement, and then the fact that Cohen's own attorney was able to say out loud that Cohen was unhinged and swore up and down that Cohen told him that he did the whole thing without Trump's knowledge…
I think the easy off-ramp fpr the judge here is mistrial…but any legal scholar knows this whole thing is a sham, and with Manhattan not being able to "get him", the jig is up…
D's will now pivot to focusing on who they can slide onto the ballot to replace Biden as this Hail Mary attempt has failed…
If this case does indeed go to the jury, and I am 100% wrong, be very very afraid of what America has become…a banana republic with kangaroo courts…
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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger continues to walk through Robert Costello's emails to Michael Cohen, including an email in which Cohen said he could rest easy because he had "friends in high places."
PEOPLE’S 205 IN EVIDENCE
— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) May 21, 2024
Email from COSTELLO to COHEN-
“I spoke with Rudy, very very positive, you are “loved.” If you want to call me I will give you the details...They said they they are in our corner.
"Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places”
HOFFINGER: By…
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Cross-examination is underway
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger has resumed her cross-examination of Robert Costello.
Hoffinger begins by asking Costello about the fact that Michael Cohen ultimately hired another firm to represent him, and not Costello's firm.
More context: Trump's attorneys called Costello to the stand as a way to try to rebut Cohen's testimony about the pressure he was receiving in 2018 when the FBI searched his home and office.
Costello advised Cohen in the weeks after the search, though Cohen did not sign a retainer agreement and did not pay Costello, who touted in email communications his close connections with Rudy Giuliani. The former New York mayor also joined Trump's legal team in 2018.
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Jury being shown 2018 email where Cohen tells Costello to stop contacting him
The jury is being shown an email dated August 8, 2018.
Michael Cohen emailed Robert Costello and Jeff Citron stating, "Gentleman
Please cease contacting me as you do not and have never represented me in this or any other matter."
The email continues: "Your interest and offers to become part of the team and to serve as a contact was subject to existing counsel, Guy Petrillo (cc'd) approval, which was denied."
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Prosecutor asks Costello about mentioning Giuliani with Cohen
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Robert Costello whether he discussed with Michael Cohen how connected he was to Rudy Giuliani at their first meeting at the Regency Hotel.
"That's not true," Costello says.
Costello says that he did not say that at the first meeting, but mentioned Giuliani later.
Hoffinger confirms with Costello that Giuliani was at his wedding.
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Prosecutor asks Costello about mentioning Giuliani with Cohen
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Robert Costello whether he discussed with Michael Cohen how connected he was to Rudy Giuliani at their first meeting at the Regency Hotel.
"That's not true," Costello says.
Costello says that he did not say that at the first meeting, but mentioned Giuliani later.
Hoffinger confirms with Costello that Giuliani was at his wedding.
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Prosecutor asks Costello if he offered Cohen a backchannel to Trump
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger has asked Robert Costello if he was pushing Michael Cohen to retain him because he could provide a backchannel to Trump. Costello again denied it.
Hoffinger then showed Costello and the jury an email he sent to Cohen mentioning a backchannel.The comment elicited laughs in the courtroom.Quote:
"That was your email to Michael Cohen?" she asks.
"Yes," Costello says.
"The email speaks for itself, right sir?" Hoffinger says.
"No, not quite. There are circumstances about that email which I would be delighted to tell you," Costello says.
"That's alright, let's move on to the next one," Hoffinger says.
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Trump watches testimony with arm draped over chair
Donald Trump is watching Costello's testimony while leaning back in his chair with his arm draped over the back of it.
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Cohen email to Costello says he has "friends in high places," referring to Trump
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger continues to walk through Robert Costello's emails to Michael Cohen, including an email in which Cohen said he could rest easy because he had "friends in high places."
Costello confirms that "definitely refers to President Trump, yes."
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Prosecution asks Costello about 2018 email he sent partner about strategy for handling Cohen
The prosecution is now showing a May 15, 2018, email between Robert Costello and his partner about Michael Cohen.Asked about the email Costello says,"No, not to follow instructions but to get everybody on the same page b/c mc had been complaining incessantly that Rudy Giuliani was making statements in the press."Quote:
"Our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instruction from Giuliani or the president. In my opinion, this is the clear correct strategy," the email reads.
Another portion of the email reads, "We must reverse the Avenatti effect and restore this to a far more simple investigation of things that while they might not look good politically and nevertheless legal."
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger then asked Costello, parroting what he said yesterday on the stand, "the emails speak for themselves."
Costello responded, "sometimes."
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10 min ago
Former election commissioner criticizes judge for not letting him testify as defense witness
From CNN's Antoinette Radford
Former Federal Election Commissioner Brad Smith has posted a lengthy thread on X, detailing his objection to not being allowed to testify at the hush money trial.In one post, Smith said that he had planned to testify to the "reporting schedules, showing that even if they thought it was a campaign expenditure to be reported, expenditure made on October 27 (when $$ sent to Daniels atty) would not, under law, be reported until Dec. 8, a full 30 days after election," he wrote.Quote:
Smith's main gripe: that Judge Juan Merchan did not want a separate expert to testify to how the hush money payments may have worked in line with the election dates.
Smith also complained that the judge allowed Michael Cohen to discuss whether he violated the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA).
"While judge wouldn't let me testify on meaning of law, he allowed Michael Cohen to go on at length about whether and how his activity violated FECA. So effectively, the jury got its instructions on FECA from Michael Cohen!" he wrote.
In summarizing his thread, Smith claimed that Merchan's "bias is very evident."
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Costello: I was encouraging Cohen to express any complaints so I could bring them to Giuliani
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger turns to another email from Robert Costello on June 13, 2018, which we've seen previously:Costello says of that email: "I was encouraging Michael Cohen, as I just explained to you in my previous answer, to express any of his complaints, and he had several, so that I could bring them to (Rudy) Giuliani, and get them worked out, whatever they were."Quote:
"Since you jumped off the phone rather abruptly, I did not get a chance to tell you that my friend has communicated to me that he is meeting with his client this evening and he added that if there was anything you wanted to convey you should tell me and my friend will bring it up for discussion this evening."
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Prosecutor presses Costello on whether he was encouraging Cohen not to cooperate
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Robert Costello to look at an email.
She asks, "in this email aren't you encouraging him not to cooperate, yes or no?"
"No," Costello says
She showed a June 14, 2018, email the jury has already seen."If you really believe you are not being supported properly by your former boss, then you should make your position known. If you really want certain things to happen, you should make that known," the email continues.Quote:
"It seems clear to me that you are under the impression that Trump and Giuliani are trying to discredit you and throw you under the bus to use your phrase. I think you are wrong because you are believing the narrative promoted by the left wing media. They want you to believe what they writing. Many of them are already writing that you are cooperating," the email began.
Hoffinger pressed Costello, saying: "You also were asked by Bove (Trump's attorney), 'did you care about President Trump's interest while you were dealing with Cohen?' Your answer was, 'no my obligation was to Michael Cohen.'"
"Yes and that's correct," Costello said in response to that question
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Costello denies he was trying to intimidate Cohen: "That's ridiculous"
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Robert Costello if he has animosity toward Michael Cohen.Costello is also asked about his testimony before a House committee last week and if that was an effort to intimidate Cohen.Quote:
"I don't have animosity. I don't think Michael Cohen is telling the truth," Costello says.
"Yes or no?" Hoffinger follows up.
"No," Costello says.Quote:
"Intimidate Michael Cohen?" Costello repeats back.
"Yes, that's my question," Hoffinger says.
"That's ridiculous, no," Costello responds.
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Trump attorney at the podium again
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger just wrapped up her cross examination of Robert Costello and Trump attorney Emil Bove is back up at the podium again.
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Costello on Cohen's email that asked him to cease contact: That was false
Trump attorney Emil Bove pulled up the August 2018 email to Robert Costello and his partner Jeff Citron in which Michael Cohen said:
"Please cease contacting me as you do not and have never represented me in this or any other matter."
Bove asks Costello, "From your perspective, was that true or false?"
"False," Costello says..
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Costello says he was concerned he was representing Cohen when he wouldn't sign retainer agreement
Trump attorney Emil Bove asks Robert Costello to explain what he meant when he wrote to Michael Cohen he thought they had been played in that June 13, 2018, email.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objects, but Judge Juan Merchan allows him to explain.
Costello says that he was referring to Cohen not signing the retainer agreement that his partner Jeff Citron had given Cohen after their initial meeting.
"Every time Jeff asked him about the retainer, 'Michael did you sign the retainer yet?' he gave us an excuse," Costello said.
Bove asks, "Were you concerned you were representing Michael Cohen when he wouldn't sign the retainer agreement?"
"Yeah, sure," Costello said.
Quote:
Costello testifies Giuliani first brought up the word "backchannel"
Trump attorney Emil Bove is now asking Robert Costello about the "backchannel" email.
Bove asks, "Who first used the word backchannel?"
Costello says, "Rudy Giuliani, in response to my telling him we couldn't make this public because that's what Michael Cohen said to me."
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger a bit earlier asked Costello if he was pushing Michael Cohen to retain him because he could provide a backchannel to Trump, which Costello denied.
Costello says they'd let Trump's inner circle know through the backchannel that Costello would represent Cohen, but Cohen expressed concern, saying, "We don't want to go public with this, it would cause a press uproar."
Bove confirms with Costello that the first mention about a backchannel was sent in an email the day after Costello told his son he'd be representing Cohen, showing him the statement Cohen was set to release.
Quote:
Costello denies pressuring Michael Cohen "to do anything"
In a June 13, 2018, email that Trump attorney Emil Bove is reviewing, Robert Costello wrote: "You have the ability to make that communication when you want to. Whether you exercise that ability is totally up to you."
"Was that pressuring Michael Cohen to do anything?" Bove asks.
"No, not at all," Costello says.
"Did you ever pressure Michael Cohen to do anything," Bove asks.
"I did not," Costello says.
"Did you ever have control over Michael Cohen?" Bove asks
"Clearly no," Costello says.
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Defense has rested their case
Trump attorney Todd Blanche has rested the defense's case.
"The defense rests," Blanche said.
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Prosecutors have no rebuttal witnesses
Prosecutors have no rebuttal witnesses.
"Nothing further judge," Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.
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Judge instructs jury on timing, saying best thing to do is adjourn for today and hear summations next Tuesday
Judge Juan Merchan is now instructing the jury on timing.
He says he expects the summations will take at least a day and he prefers not to break them up if possible.
There's no way to do this in a cohesive manner this week, Merchan says.
He says the best thing to do is adjourn now and hear summations on Tuesday.
"I've considered all the permutation … at the end of the day, I think the best thing that we can do is to adjourn now until next Tuesday. At that time you will hear summations from the attorneys. Probably Wendesday I'll ask you to come in … hear jury charge and then I would expect that you will begin your deliberations hopefully at some point on Wednesday," Merchan says.
"It might be tempting to think now that both sides have rested you can kind of let up a bit, but in fact these instructions take on even greater significance," Merchan tells the jury of his instructions not to talk about or research the case.
He also asks them to think about if they can work late next Tuesday, since he's "not 100% sure we're going to get both summations done by 4:30 (p.m. ET)."
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Costello's testimony was 1 hour and 14 minutes
Robert Costello, a lawyer who advised Michael Cohen, testified for 1 hour and 14 minutes.
He was the final witness in Donald Trump's historic criminal hush money trial.
I think they are just trying to make Costello look like a bad guy.jobu93 said:
I wonder why the prosecutor asked the last week's congressional testimony was to intimidate Cohen.
That seems like it would have been a nice opening for the defense to ask, since the State brought it to record, what that testimony was about. State had been trying to shield the jury from it, right?
I'm no lawyer.
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The jury has left the courtroom
The jury has left the courtroom, and Judge Juan Merchan is off the bench.
"Thank you, I'll see you in a week," Merchan tells the jury as they depart.
Merchan says they would be back at 2:15 p.m. to discuss the charging instructions.
The prosecution has not given any evidence of any wrongdoing by Trump other than the word of a convicted perjurer and notorious liar.Casual Cynic said:
That was a short defense.
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Trump is departing courtroom
Donald Trump is leaving the courtroom.
He walks by cameras in the hallway and throws up a fist pump, giving no comments.
Quote:
Analysis: Costello's testimony backfired for the defense, legal experts say
From CNN's Maureen Chowdhury
Robert Costello's testimony seemed to backfire for the defense, several legal experts said on CNN.
Costello's demeanor toward Judge Juan Merchan caused the courtroom to be cleared on Monday and his back and forth with prosecutors may not be working in the defense's favor/
"It's just terrible the way it went down and the weird thing is is that Costello knows better, right?," David Oscar Markus, a criminal defense attorney, said. "He's a lawyer, he's been in that courtroom, that courthouse. He knows better so just an awful, awful day. And you know the defense took a big risk here and struck out very badly."
CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates noted that Costello's purpose was to go after Michael Cohen's credibility by calling him a liar, but didn't succeed.
"The prosecutor is undermining through this, Coates said, "and not allowing him frankly, on this very tight leash, to try to talk his way out of what the documents say. Now the idea, the color we had in the courtroom before about him telling her to 'speak up, talk louder' might not be going over well with the juror," Coates said.
"He is now not able to explain away what the documents say. That's where you want your witness to be if you want to undermine them," she added.
The district attorney is "gradually but surely turning Bob Costello into a prosecution witness," CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said, because Costello is talking about a crucial moment in time" in April 2018 where the emails indicate that Costello was trying to keep Cohen in the fold and not flip. "This shady effort to keep Michael Cohen from not flipping is coming back to the floor. It's bad for the defense and good for the prosecution."
William J. Brennan, former Trump Payroll Corp. attorney, also said that Costello's testimony is not in favor of the defense. "It's just really sad for the defense that this is what we're focused on now when you had a couple of days that don't often happen in a criminal trial. You know Cohen was just you know a gift."
Brennan continued, now they put Costello on, "he's imploded, he fought with the judge, he's dancing with her (Susan Hoffinger), it's just not a great way to end."
