Cohen expected gratitude from Trump, really? Makes you wonder what cave he’d been living in.
That was probably the start of the journey to awareness he end up on, the realization of the depravity of the man for whom he sold his soul. But, yes, it’s fascinating how many people in Trump’s orbit seem to think, “Oh, I’m different. He’ll appreciate my loyalty.”
Are MAGAts devotees of the Church of Spraytan?
Hail Spraytan!
Has anyone coined “His Spraytanic Majesty” yet? If not, I’m claiming credit for it.
To be fair to Cohen, what people knew about Trump in 2016 is different than what people know in 2024. Not saying there was no way to know he was a slimeball who showed gratitude to people the way the average person appreciates a used tissue, but it wasn’t as publicized yet.
Can you imagine how pissed Spraytan is about anyone saying that they saved his ass? “Save MY ass?! No, you do what I tell you to do! I save my OWN ass! I AM the one who saves ass!”
The Defense is done with Daus and we have redirect going on which should be quick. We now have thousands of texts in the record as well as mention of the Access Hollywood tape.
Before the jury was brought in, the judge told Trump that he is most definitely not prevented from testifying as a result of the gag order.
The next witness is Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the district attorney’s office.
I noted this as well:
“The order restricting extrajudicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way,” Merchan says. “It does not prohibit you from taking the stand and it does not limit or minimize what you can say.”
Trump apparently did not respond to this. I wonder if he was even capable of understanding it.
Her job was to analyze publicly available material for the case such as news articles and social media posts.
This will allow Trump’s Twittter posts to be entered into evidence
It also appears that they played the recording Cohen made when he talked to donald about setting up a company to buy the McDougal story for $150,000
Of course he does. Look, when I wrote this:
I wasn’t being prescient. It was a completely predictable ploy, fully in line with how he spins the legal process to his followers. He knows that he’s allowed to testify and he knows (or has been grudgingly convinced) that actually doing it would be a terrible move.
So this is how he maintains his strongman persona. Of course he’s not scared to testify! The judge won’t let him! If only he was allowed to, which he definitely wants to (and definitely isn’t following the instructions of his lawyers like some kind of loser), this whole mess would be cleared up instantly.
After a brief debate, Trump’s social media posts will be allowed into evidence. Prosecution has laid the proper foundation.
Access Hollywood tape played to the jury and Trump’s tweet apologizing for it.
So rather speculative thought I had about the strategy here. Did the prosecution introduce the WaPo article alongside these knowing the judge would disallow it, but figuring that would make it the tweets more likely to be accepted (as it would make the decision more balanced: the prosecution get to keep the tweets but the defense gets to the throw out the WaPo article?). Or am I overthinking this? (This minute by minute coverage definitely encourages that IMO)
My impression is that you can’t work an experienced judge like that.
I’m watching CNN’s coverage. They’ve been showing a photo of Trump. I guess it was taken today. My first impression: He looks like he did not get a good night’s sleep.
Hope Hicks on the stand!
“Look, there’s plenty of ass there, enough for everyone to save it. Bigly!”
Wow. I thought this had initially been disallowed and that while the prosecution could refer to it they couldn’t play it. I’m assuming this is a sign of how far their case has pushed the boundaries of what is and isn’t in scope of this trial?
Can you imagine what it’s like to be on trial, sitting in criminal court, hearing news that the auditors for your publicly-traded sham company was banned by the SEC & you now have to find a new auditor…
And you can’t do a damn thing about it while your aide is testifying against you?